Death of Melody the latest from Preoccupations is here, have you listen to it yet?
The second single off of Canada’s Preoccupations forthcoming fourth studio LP Arrangements, “Death of Melody” throws you inside a tumbling, six sided reverb tank filled with shape-shifting shoegaze haze. It recalls the martial, machine like rhythms of the bands 2015 full length, eventually descending into a deeper level of avant pop, a shimmery mine of dystopian glam.
Preoccupations are known for their truly transformative live shows and will be hitting North America in support of the new album. All dates are listed below, and tickets can be purchased here.
2022 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES:
Oct 19th - Loving Touch - Detroit, MI
Oct 20th - Grog Shop - Cleveland, OH
Oct 21st - Lincoln Hall - Chicago, IL
Oct 22nd - Racoon Motel- Davenport, IA
Oct 23rd - Turf Club in St. Paul - Minneapolis, MN
Oct 26th - Commonwealth - Calgary, AB
Oct 28th - Tractor Tavern - Seattle, WA
Oct 29th - Biltmore Cabaret - Vancouver, BC
Oct 30th - Doug Fir Lounge - Portland, OR
Nov 2nd - Rickshaw Stop - San Francisco, CA
Nov 4th - Echoplex - Los Angeles, CA
Nov 5th - Valley - Phoenix, AZ
Nov 8th - Paper Tiger - San Antonio, TX
Nov 9th - Parish - Austin, TX
Nov 10th - Three Links - Dallas, TX
Nov 12th - Aisle 5 - Atlanta, GA
Nov 16th - DC9 - Washington, DC
Nov 17th - Johnny Brendas - Philadelphia, PA
Nov 18th Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY
Nov 19th - Space Ballroom - Hamden, CT
Nov 21st - The Sinclair - Boston, MA
Nov 22nd - Bar Le Ritz - Montreal, QC
Nov 24th - Lee’s - Toronto, ON
“It’s about having a song stuck in your head, and having no idea what it is, and driving yourself to the brink of dementia trying to figure out what it is” explains Flegel, “It’s about knowing and forgetting, existing in the middle ground between the permanent and temporary.”
Arrangements begin with the pounding metallic slash of guitar strings of “Fix Bayonets!”. It’s harsh and desolate at first but builds into a thrilling synth sprint. The track —from its call-to-arms title and tense first guitar phrases to its whirlwind evolution— sets the stage for what is to come: a Preoccupations record that weaves their guitar-heavy origins with their newer synth-based work. The result is Arrangements, a record that is at once the band’s most intense, engaging, and playful work yet.
Work on Arrangements began in the fall of 2019 when vocalist and bassist Matt Flegel and guitarist Danny Christiansen met up with Munro at his Studio St. Zo in Montreal. The three wrote the record’s material and recorded all of the bed tracks, then drummer Mike Wallace joined and laid down his parts. All told, drums, guitars, and bass were completed during the sessions at Studio St. Zo. The band planned to reconvene in a couple of months and decide what else the songs needed.
When COVID hit, those plans were halted. Munro was in Calgary on tour with his partner when shutdowns began, so he ended up staying in the city with his parents for the next 16 months. He whipped up a make-shift studio in their house, and the record was finished remotely via Munro and Flegel sending tracks back and forth. All of Munro’s vocals and keyboard parts were completed in this new setup, while Flegel’s vocals were done in New York. Graham Walsh (Holy Fuck) mixed the record, and Mikey Young (Total Control) mastered it.
The isolation in part encouraged the band to reconnect with elements of their earlier releases. Munro, holed up in Calgary with endless weed gummies, “obsessively” doubled keyboards on guitars and vice versa, sampled the recordings using an old Ensoniq keyboard sampler, and made new parts out of the samples. While Munro was committed to making keyboards the centerpiece of the band’s 2016 and 2018 releases, this time, guitar returned to the spotlight — an instrument he describes as more fun and visceral to play. Christiansen’s guitar is in a unique tuning for almost the entire record, blurring and smearing the tracks while Munro’s standard-tuning riffs provide melody and clarity.
The album’s title —like that of their 2018 LP New Material— is literal and cheeky, a sharp contrast to the band’s sonic aesthetic. Having finished it entirely on their own, the band has decided to self-release the record outside of Canada. Long-time co-conspirators Flemish Eye will handle the record’s Canadian release.
Thematically speaking, Arrangements is dark and direct: “The lyrics are pretty conspicuous and self-explanatory on this one, but it’s basically about the world blowing up and no one giving a shit,” says Flegel.
