Baroness has announced their long awaited new album, and the officially confirmed title of Purple will be released on December 18th from their newly formed own label, Abraxan Hymns. The first track ‘Chlorine & Wine’ has been released in the form of an animated video complete with classic John Baizley artwork reveal. You can see the video at this link or below:
John Baizley has commented on the album:
“After releasing a lengthy and investigative record like Yellow & Green we all felt that we needed to make something much more direct and immediate. We wanted to write with our normal focus on artistry, balanced against an increased level of energy and focus. It was important for us to write our new songs with the type of enthusiasm and expressiveness that could act as a counterpoint to the album’s dark themes. As a result, the music came out in an intense, heavy and sonically captivating in a new way, which was important, loathe, as we are to fall into any kind of complacency pitfall or formulaic songwriting routine. Purple is the most fully realized representation of our intention as a band; considering the amount of physical and mental energy spent writing it, we have accomplished something which would have seemed impossible to us a couple of years ago.”
Baroness, photo credit Jimmy Hubbard
Produced by Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, MGMT) at Tarbox Road Studios, the band worked with Fridmann in the secluded town of Cassadaga, New York. Pre-order packages for Purple, which feature an instant grat download of ‘Chlorine & Wine’ as well as a limited edition colored vinyl version of the new album, two picture discs, t-shirts and other unique items, are available now via this link: http://smarturl.it/dpurple. iTunes (http://smarturl.it/ipurple), Amazon (http://smarturl.it/apurple) and Google Play (http://smarturl.it/gpurple) are also offering pre-orders as of today.
Purple track list:
1. Morningstar
2. Shock Me
3. Try to Disappear
4. Kerosene
5. Fugue
6. Chlorine & Wine
7. The Iron Bell
8. Desperation Burns
9. If I Have to Wake Up (Would You Stop the Rain)
10. Crossroads of Infinity
The band performs tomorrow at the Reading Festival and at the Leeds Festival on Sunday. North American tour dates are pending. The Purple will be the long awaited follow up to the critically acclaimed Yellow & Green (both Relapse) released in 2011. Less than a month after that album’s release the band was in a near fatal tour bus crash outside of Bath, England. The band resumed activities less than 8 months later with an appearance at South By Southwest in March of 2013 and has remained mostly on the road or in the studio ever since.
