Surfer Blood are back with a new album and new label: 1000 Palms, out May 12, on Joyful Noise.
The band’s third full-length and first release with indie imprint 1000 Palms marks a return to the band’s DIY ethos. Abandoning the big time studio, the band decided to head back home to self-record and self-produce their third album.
Last week, the band treated fans to a preview of the album’s opening track Grand Inquisitor.
Now Surfer Blood reveals a second track from the record Dorian.
Front man John Paul Pitts describes "Dorian" as the album’s central point, saying “This song has everything from classic 80's synth patches to fucked-up vocoder sound collages, embracing a series of left-turns that make it one of the most unique songs in our catalogue. It makes use of almost every sonic element we had available, and embraces the anything goes spirit this record represents.”
The story of 1000 Palms began on Jan. 1, 2014, after playing a New Year’s show in Portland, the band decided to stick around for the rest of the month, renting a practice space and sorting through a backlog of ideas. By February, as their lease ran out, Surfer Blood had recorded demos for most of the tracks that now feature on their third LP.
After a frustrating time at previous home Warner Brothers, the quartet were beyond ready to return to a more DIY recording process, completely void of the middlemen scrutinizing every bar of previous LP Pythons.
The band’s third full-length and first release with indie imprint 1000 Palms marks a return to the band’s DIY ethos. Abandoning the big time studio, the band decided to head back home to self-record and self-produce their third album.
Last week, the band treated fans to a preview of the album’s opening track Grand Inquisitor.
Now Surfer Blood reveals a second track from the record Dorian.
Front man John Paul Pitts describes "Dorian" as the album’s central point, saying “This song has everything from classic 80's synth patches to fucked-up vocoder sound collages, embracing a series of left-turns that make it one of the most unique songs in our catalogue. It makes use of almost every sonic element we had available, and embraces the anything goes spirit this record represents.”
The story of 1000 Palms began on Jan. 1, 2014, after playing a New Year’s show in Portland, the band decided to stick around for the rest of the month, renting a practice space and sorting through a backlog of ideas. By February, as their lease ran out, Surfer Blood had recorded demos for most of the tracks that now feature on their third LP.
After a frustrating time at previous home Warner Brothers, the quartet were beyond ready to return to a more DIY recording process, completely void of the middlemen scrutinizing every bar of previous LP Pythons.
With the band self-recording, it was in the glamorous setting of an attic studio above a doctor’s office where drums were committed to tape. Of the work, Pitts states, “fortunately none of us are strangers to DIY recording, so it was a challenge well-suited to our band”.
The making of 1000 Palms also owes a lot to the kindness of friends and family, with the remaining instrument sessions taking place at the home of drummer Tyler Schwartz’s parents while they were on vacation. Following a few days of very little sleep and after the band pooled resources and called in favors, the band had managed to craft everything on the upcoming record.
The making of 1000 Palms also owes a lot to the kindness of friends and family, with the remaining instrument sessions taking place at the home of drummer Tyler Schwartz’s parents while they were on vacation. Following a few days of very little sleep and after the band pooled resources and called in favors, the band had managed to craft everything on the upcoming record.
“The
most important part was not over-thinking it,
something we've been guilty of in the past. Instead we mostly ignored
matters of length, structure, and instrumentation for the sake of
leaving the material as undiluted as possible.”
Track listing:
Grand Inquisitor
Island
I Can’t Explain
Feast/Famine
Point of No Return
Sabre-Tooth and Bone
Covered Wagons
Dorian
Into Catacombs
Other Desert Cities
NW Passage
Pre-order via iTunes
** Limited VIP vinyl edition of the album (500 hand-numbered copies on green & clear "starburst" vinyl ft. bonus flexi-disc of an album outtake) pre-order via Joyful Noise