Tag: Lathe of Heaven

Lathe of Heaven are “At Moment’s Edge” with their new single.

Photo credit: George C. Gildersleeve

Today NYC based band Lathe of Heaven share their new single “At Moment’s Edge“, which is taken from their upcoming debut album ‘Bound By Naked Skies’ out Sept 1st via Sacred Bones. 

When writing “At Moment’s Edge”, Lathe of Heaven initially intended the song to be a one-off, poppy departure from the otherwise depressive and urgent atmosphere of their debut record ‘Bound by Naked Skies’. Once recording the track however, the band found it to contextualise perfectly, the dualistic nature of the record and the band as a whole, proving itself to be a prime candidate for the album’s second single. Laden with dreamy synths and enchanting vocal melodies, “At Moment’s Edge” invokes within the listener a current of visceral elusion, ebbing towards a total re-imagination of any prior notions they may have had about the band.

“Existing in the lyrics are themes of process, change and complexity on a very personal level,” remarks the band’s vocalist Gage Allison, “which we believe is indicative of the recurring themes represented in the album.”

The video accompanying the track was directed by Emma Penrose and Zach Shorrosh, who aptly cultivate the surreal and absurd atmosphere the song was meant to invoke. When asked to comment on the video Penrose stated “Gage reached out to us asking if we wanted to make a music video for Lathe of Heaven and showed us maybe the most thought-out mood board I’ve ever seen, referencing Man Ray, Caravaggio, Marcel Duchamp as well as classic and contemporary science fiction. Inspired by the monochromatic imagery, we shot At Moment’s Edge entirely on 16mm black & white film & print stock and developed it by hand ourselves. We processed the 900’ of film at Mono No Aware using an eco friendly developer consisting of coffee, beer & vitamin C powder. The results turned out exactly as we’d hoped.”

“At Moment’s Edge” on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGV_vcwe3FM

With little more under their belt than a relentless string of live performances, and a twice pressed (subsequently sold out) Self-Titled Demo, NYC based band Lathe of Heaven have proved themselves to be a potent and cohesive element amidst the torrent of hardcore punk and synth-driven pop revival currently proliferating throughout the U.S. underground. Formed in 2021, the band features members of noteworthy Brooklyn based projects such as People’s Temple, Porvenir Oscuro, Pawns, Android, Hustler and more. 

Though this roster of past and alternate musical endeavors exposes a diverse range of genre and skill sets, Lathe of Heaven can only be understood as a departure from such influences, exploring a sound entirely of its own. 

Now nearly two years later, LoH are finally prepared to unleash their debut Full Length Bound by Naked Skies. With careful consideration, this eleven track LP blends elements of British New-Wave and Finnish Post-Punk into a nuanced juxtaposition of 80s sonic mania. Incorporating themes of classic and contemporary Science-Fiction, Bound by Naked Skies indebts itself as much to its literary influences as it does to the music that informs its unique and deliberate sound. Paying powerful homage to the uncanny worlds of authors Arthur C. Clarke, Octavia Butler, Ken Liu and of course Ursula Le Guin (whose novel the band is named after), themes of cosmology (Ekpyrosis), simulation (Heralds of the Circuit-Born), mental illness (Moon-Driven Sea), and ontology (Entropy, The Spider.), weave implicitly throughout the arch of the record, providing a sense of insight into the minds of those plagued by the ambiguous nature of humankind’s terrifying and not-so-distant future. 

Lathe of Heaven tour dates:
18th Aug – Union Pool (w/ Temple of Angels), Brooklyn,, NY (Tickets)
7th Sept – TV Eye (w/ Witness and Eyedrops), Brooklyn, NY (Tickets)
13th Sept – The Dirty Bird (w/ The Poisoning and The Exile), Santa Ana, CA 
14th Sept – Knucklehead ( w/ The Exile and Shrouds), Los Angeles, CA
15th Sept – Zebulon (w/ Diode), Los Angeles, CA
16th Sept – Stork Club (w/ Vulture Feather and Vague Lanes), Oakland, CA
17th Sept – Enzyme, San Francisco, CA
18th Sept – Naked Lounge (w/ Vulture Feather and Exposure Therapy), Chico, CA
19th Sept – Coffin Club, Portland, OR
21st Sept – 23rd Sept – Varning Festival, Montreal, MTL (Tickets)

Keep your mind open.

[I’m on the edge until you subscribe.]

[Thanks to Frankie at Stereo Sanctity.]

Lathe of Heaven release debut single of groovy goth post-punk – “Ekpyrosis.”

Photo credit: George C. Gildersleeve

With little more under their belt than a relentless string of live performances, and a twice pressed (subsequently sold out) Self-Titled Demo, NYC based band Lathe of Heaven have proved themselves to be a potent and cohesive element amidst the torrent of hardcore punk and synth-driven pop revival currently proliferating throughout the U.S. underground. Today the band sign to Sacred Bones Records and announce their debut album ‘Bound By Naked Skies‘ is out September 1st. To coincide with the announce, the band are sharing the first single from the record, “Ekpyrosis” alongside a video directed by Lucas Cabu and Vitor Jabour.

Though the term Ekpyrosis has roots in Ancient Greek philosophy, the name has since been adopted and reformatted to signify a cosmological theory that describes the origins and destiny of space and time. The Ekpyrotic Model, commonly associated with The Cyclic Model, hypothesises that the universe undergoes periodic cycles of contraction and expansion, leading to the creation, destruction, and thus recreation of the universe.

Despite this theory’s contentious place in the field of cosmology, the band nevertheless finds its implications inherently compelling. There is something both horrifying and beautiful about the idea of our universe being in a constant state of death and rebirth, which Lathe of Heaven believes serves as a strong and apt portrayal of the various themes spanning across their upcoming debut record, Bound by Naked Skies.

The “Ekpyrosis” video aims to place its viewer in the uncanny space of present and past, thematically exploiting neo retro-futuristic depictions of New York City, it’s punk underground and its dystopian future – a future the universe may have unknowingly seen before. On the visuals, director Lucas Cabu said “This was a fun project. The band wanted to have space images playing behind them and have an 80’s look to it, so we used an analog mixer to do the chroma key in real time while the band was playing in my room! We kind of pre-edited it in real time then did the master in a beta-cam to give it an even more antiquated look.”

“Ekpyrosis” on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8JjK33lOqI

Formed in 2021, the band features members of noteworthy Brooklyn based projects such as People’s Temple, Porvenir Oscuro, Pawns, Android, Hustler and more. 

Though this roster of past and alternate musical endeavors exposes a diverse range of genre and skill sets, Lathe of Heaven can only be understood as a departure from such influences, exploring a sound entirely of its own. 

Now nearly two years later, LoH are finally prepared to unleash their debut Full Length Bound by Naked Skies. With careful consideration, this eleven track LP blends elements of British New-Wave and Finnish Post-Punk into a nuanced juxtaposition of 80s sonic mania. Incorporating themes of classic and contemporary Science-Fiction, Bound by Naked Skies indebts itself as much to its literary influences as it does to the music that informs its unique and deliberate sound. Paying powerful homage to the uncanny worlds of authors Arthur C. Clarke, Octavia Butler, Ken Liu and of course Ursula Le Guin (whose novel the band is named after), themes of cosmology (Ekpyrosis), simulation (Heralds of the Circuit-Born), mental illness (Moon-Driven Sea), and ontology (Entropy, The Spider.), weave implicitly throughout the arch of the record, providing a sense of insight into the minds of those plagued by the ambiguous nature of humankind’s terrifying and not-so-distant future. 

Lathe of Heaven tour dates:
4th Aug – TV Eye (w/ Home Front and Deluxxe), Brooklyn, NY (Tickets)
18th Aug – Union Pool (w/ Temple of Angels), Brooklyn,, NY (Tickets)
7th Sept – TV Eye (w/ Witness and Eyedrops), Brooklyn, NY (Tickets)
13th Sept – The Dirty Bird (w/ The Poisoning and The Exile), Santa Ana, CA 
14th Sept – Knucklehead ( w/ The Exile and Shrouds), Los Angeles, CA
15th Sept – Zebulon (w/ Protocultura), Los Angeles, CA
16th Sept – Stork Club (w/ Vulture Feather and Vague Lanes), Oakland, CA
17th Sept – Enzyme, San Francisco, CA
18th Sept – Naked Lounge (w/ Vulture Feather and Exposure Therapy), Chico, CA
19th Sept – Coffin Club, Portland, OR
21st Sept – 23rd Sept – Varning Festival, Montreal, MTL (Tickets)

Keep your mind open.

[I’ll be in heaven if you subscribe.]

[Thanks to Frankie at Stereo Sanctity.]