Dax Riggs is about to release his first new album in 15 years – 7 Songs For Spiders – on Friday January 24th. In advance, Riggs has shared the full-length’s final single, “sunshine felt the darkness smile.” It follows the previous tracks, “even the stars fall” and “deceiver.” He has also announced a live show in support of the album, on February 22nd at Warehouse 535 in Lafayette, LA. Check out the new track and more below.
Pre-order 7 Songs For Spiders here: https://daxriggs.ffm.to/deceiver
“Like a roller coaster ride in the dark,” he says of the soul-stirring, psychedelic dirge. “A meditation on the shadow of the oak tree. Where the comedy and tragedy masks catch our gaze and ask: who are you looking at?”
Known for his otherworldly lyrics, folk metal balladry, and a gift for capturing the beauty in darkness, Riggs first garnered a cult following during his early days with teenage death sludge band Acid Bath (who recently announced a handful of upcoming reunion festival performances)–one that’s stayed with him through the country punk garage folk of deadboy & the Elephantmen as well as his soul-stirring solo work. In the years since his last album, 2010’s Say Goodnight to the World, and 2007’s We Sing of Only Blood or Love, his whereabouts have been the subject of wild speculation. Truth be told, he was looking inside for the things that fall outside of the commercial realm.
7 Songs for Spiders is a meditation on life and death under the influence of shadow and the tribulations of a spiritual animal. It was recorded at Riggs’ studio in the swamps of Southern Louisiana with his outlaw band of Cajun cosmonauts: Lucas Broussard (guitar, synth), Kane Cormier (bass), and Scott Domingue (percussion). Inspired by world music, gospel, and proto-metal sounds, and reverberating with an undercurrent of rebellious joy, 7 Songs for Spiders has its head in the clouds and its feet in the grave. The album’s sound is a heavy dream–like an iron cloud hot-wired with phantom energy.
There are songs about human beings collapsing in upon themselves, songs about sympathy for the villain, songs about God and what your gods tell you about yourself. They were written at home in Acadiana, a region settled by descendants of French exiles from Canada. It’s an area with a history of the outcast and an appreciation for outsider art and music. “I’ve always felt a connection with the spirit of this place. There’s a vacuum for rock music here in ‘Cajun hell,’ so it’s the perfect place to go inside yourself–where I’ve always gone,” Riggs says.
It’s in this environment that Riggs, alongside his band, explored a more experimental sound: a mix of ethereal dreamscapes, other dimensional vocals, and heavy guitar worship. Like night and day, a theme running through the album is a perpetual exploration of the sun and the shadow that follows. It goes without saying, but this sh*t is apocalyptic.
Dax Riggs Live Shows:
2/22/25 – Lafayette, LA @ Warehouse 535
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