NORTHLANE's seventh album has been more than two years in the making, and vocalist Marcus Bridge says the time went into getting one specific balance right.
"Anemoia" arrives October 30 as an independent release, executive produced by Jordan Fish, formerly of BRING ME THE HORIZON. Speaking to Steve O'G, Bridge said the collaboration worked precisely because Fish resisted the urge to impose himself.
"We kind of wanted to go into these new songs and just kind of approach it from a different angle. And then Jordan's name came up," he said. "It's also really exciting for us to work with someone who also understands what our sound is and how to complement that as opposed to kind of just bulldoze over it with his own kind of thing. 'Cause he does have his sound, but he was also very aware of what we do and made sure to kind of just sprinkle some of his elements in there and really kind of just tighten it all up a bit."
Fish flew to Australia for a week of writing in guitarist Jon Deiley's apartment. "We were just sitting in Jon's apartment just going over songs, trying to chip away at some chorus melodies and stuff here and there. He's just like a kid in a candy store when he's working on music."
Where 2024's "Mirror's Edge" EP pulled the electronics back, "Anemoia" pushes them to the front. "For this one, yeah, we definitely wanted to go pretty ham with it and once again just try and capture that kind of nostalgic electronic music feel of the late '90s, early 2000s. And it's been a long process as well to really perfect that."
The album's seed was a set by U.K. producer Evian Christ that sent Deiley chasing the idea of trance — its emotional intensity and physical scale — colliding with guitars. The result shifts through euphoric trance, breakdowns, drum-and-bass, jungle and pop, and the band say it produced some of their heaviest passages since their first EP.
"These songs we've been working on for two years about — maybe a bit over two years," Bridge said. "It's taken a lot of fine-tuning to kind of nail that while still keeping it sounding like us and not feeling like it's straying too far off the path."
The title refers to nostalgia for a time or place one has never actually known — a tension the record works both sides of.
"Anemoia" track listing: "Pierce The Sky", "NEED2FEEL", "Crucified", "Deathwish", "Evian", "CUT_it", "S∈GA", "The Otherside", "Start Again", "Anemoia" (feat. DAYSEEKER).
NORTHLANE recently wrapped a North American run supporting DAYSEEKER and are currently playing European festivals ahead of the Hellbound cruise and a further European tour this autumn.
Source: blabbermouth.net