Great Falls announce new record, Objects Without Pain, out on September 15th via Neurot Recordings

Here are some great news to brighten up your day – Seattle noise rockers Great Falls have signed to Neurot Recordings to release their upcoming fourth record, Objects Without Pain! For over a decade, vocalist and guitarist Demian Johnston and bassist Shane Mehling (who also played together in the early-2000s noisecore band Playing Enemy and the experimental duo Hemingway) have honed their sludgy, overwhelmingly intense brand of heaviness, punctuated by delectably discordant riffs, terrifyingly low, thwacking bass lines and mesmerisingly tight percussion. Setting them apart from the murky sea of sludge metal and AmRep-inspired noise-rock bands, is their ability to paint a deeply, utterly human story through an all-out assault on the senses: an art the band has perfected on Objects Without Pain.

Recorded at Studio Litho and mixed at Antisleep by Scott Evans and mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege, with art and layout by Demian Johnston, Objects Without Pain is a heavy, crushing, and unhinged record that takes us on a bleak, purgative journey through a separation – a snapshot of the turmoil and indecision that occurs after the initial realisation of someone’s misery, and before the ultimate decision to end a decades-long partnership. From the foreboding intro riffs of “Dragged Home Alive” to the end of the 13-minute closer “Thrown Against The Waves”, its eight tracks explore the thoughts that come up when a person is staring down the barrel of blowing up their life: How did this happen? Is it too late for a new life? Will the kid be OK? What will make me happier: familiar torment or unknown freedom?

“It’s less about creating a safe space and more about pushing Demian to talk about it in a less poetic way,” Shane describes when asked about the ways in which the band allowed vocalist Demian to open up about these deeply personal issues. “It’s really him trying to move away from generalities and flowery prose… he just tried to speak openly about it without worrying about how lyrical it was.” This raw and to-the-point approach to lyric writing reflects the nature of their music – not shying away from the ugly and difficult realities of life. Shane describes his relationship with Demian as “best friends/platonic life partners,” which explains how this band can feel like an appropriate outlet for these musings. “As Demian, only half-jokingly says, he can’t afford therapy so this is pretty much what he does instead”. Today, Great Falls share the first track from their upcoming record, “Trap Feeding”, about which the band comments, “the song is about the anxiety and stress of trying to do something that would possibly be much better for you but then surrendering to the fact that you just aren’t brave enough.”

Objects Without Pain will be released on September 15th via Neurot Recordings. Physical and digital pre-orders are now available here.

Photo credit: Soren Hixenbaugh