LA trip-hop act, Thief, have scheduled their fourth album, Bleed, Memory, to be released on the Prophecy Productions record label, April 19th. The artist also recently shared the first track from the full-length, ”Cinderland,” along with an official music video. Keep reading below for more from Thief, and check out the latest video.

Pre-order Bleed, Memory here.

The band had this to say:
“The title Bleed, Memory is a reference to the title of Vladimir Nabokov’s autobiography Speak, Memory. The album has nothing to do with the book, I just liked the nod/wink to one of my favorite authors as well as its succinct explanation of the album’s concept and lyrics.”

“Of course (as usual) the backbone of the album is made up of sacred chant music. Some sampled from crate digging, some recorded myself at various orthodox churches. Stretched, cut, mangled, morphed and pitched to function like another instrument.”

“This particular album features a lot more “granular synthesis”, a synthesis technique where a sample (of choir, in the album’s case) is split into small blips of audio, barely exceeding 100 milliseconds. These blips – or grains – loop extremely fast and can be layered on top of each other, and may play at different speeds, phases, volume, and frequency, among other parameters.”

Dementia is a thief. It robs its victims piece by piece of their memory, identity, family and friends, and often enough even their human dignity. On Bleed, Memory Los Angeles-based electronic experimentalists Thief explore the theme of ‘memory’ both lyrically and musically, which runs as a bold dotted line throughout the album. The solo project’s mastermind, Dylan Neal, was largely inspired for this album after witnessing his father, who had recently been diagnosed with dementia, transition from bouts of forgetfulness and confusion to acute episodes of false memories, delusions, visions, and strange behaviour.

Neal once more recorded and mixed most of the album in his apartment. For the mastering he managed to win John Greenham again, whose collaborations include artists ranging from The Locusts and Katy Perry to Death Grips, and who has received three Grammy Awards in 2019 that honoured his mastering for Billie Eilish.

The album has been pressed on orange transparent vinyl, plus a 2CD Book Edition (Hardcover, 18x18cm, 48 pages), featuring lyrics, drawings, photos and a bonus CD that features exclusive unreleased tracks.

Bleed, Memory tracklisting:
01 Apparitions
02 Cinderland
03 Paramnesia
04 Pneuma Enthusiastikon
05 Prankquean
06 Dead Coyote Dreams
07 Bleed, Memory
08 Dulcinea
09 Behemouth
10 Hex Proof
11 Pissing
12 To Whom It May Concern

More from Thief:
Before causing a stir among connoisseurs of fascinating new music with Thief, Dylan Neal had already made an impact as a musician by playing hammered dulcimer in San Francisco-based experimental black metal outfit Botanist to which he continues to contribute even after having parted ways amicably.

Eager to explore new sonic dimensions, Neal composed and released Thieves Hymn in D Minor (2016), Map of Lost Keys (2019), and The 16 Deaths of My Master (2021) under the banner of Thief. His music draws inspiration from groundbreaking acts like Portishead and Ulver. Critics have also detected traces of Tool, Nine Inch Nails, and Tears For Fears in Thief’s sound. Despite being stylistically on a completely different track, Thief are comparable to Wardruna or Heilung – one of the chosen few acts recognized by the metal scene despite the absence of electric guitars.

There is always much more to explore on a Thief album than meets the eye. The album title pays homage to Vladimir Nabokov’s autobiography, Speak, Memory, while the mention of what the Irish literary giant James Joyce termed ‘Prankquean’ holds even greater significance. This ‘character’ from Finnegans Wake makes recurrent appearances on Bleed, Memory, serving as a female entity that imparts mostly painful yet necessary lessons.

With Bleed, Memory, Thief deliver a dark yet beautiful artistic contemplation of a terrible affliction that is at the same time conveying anger, melancholy, sorrow, and loss as a Gesamtkunstwerk (synthesis of all arts) lyrically, musically, and visually. Beware this sonic ghost will haunt the memories of its listeners.