Teeth Of The Sea announce new record, Hive, out on October 6th via Rocket Recordings

Fundamental to Teeth Of The Sea’s mission thus far is that this band can go anywhere and make short work of any obstacles in their path. Unfettered by genre distinctions or expectations, the only limits of this trio – comprising Sam Barton, Mike Bourne and Jimmy Martin – are those of its imagination. It therefore follows that inspiration flowed into their new record, Hive, from all dimensions, with the band’s sphere of influence – the science fiction, trash culture and cinematic atmospherics by which they’ve fuelled their mission thus far – expanding to take in everything from Italo-disco to minimal techno, from dubbed-out studio madness to their most brazen forays thus far into pop songwriting. Here is a headspace where the psychic charges from records by Labradford, Nurse With Wound, Vangelis, The Knife, Nine Inch Nails and John Barry can happily co-exist.

These disparate pathways cohere and coalesce to create a vivid experience rich with emotion and intrigue. A commission to create a live soundtrack at London’s Science Museum for a documentary on the Apollo moon landings gave flight to the trilogy of tracks – “Artemis”, “Æther” and “Apollo”, which are summarily imbued with the dreamlike wonder and existential peril of the mission itself. A collaboration with vocalist Kath Gifford (Snowpony, The Wargs, Sleazy Tiger) set loose “Butterfly House”, which transmutes synthpop stylings into something uniquely radiant, haunting and melancholic. “Get With The Program”, sung by Mike Bourne, is meanwhile no less than a noise-fuelled, speaker-shaking electro-industrial banger. Today, Teeth Of The Sea share the video for the behemoth track that is “Megafragma”, a nine-minute avant-epic made in collaboration with engineer and co-conspirator Giles Barrett. The track morphs form and structure in search of new epiphanies – sitting comfortably next to Stereolab/Nurse With Wound’s Simple Headphone Mind and Roxy Music’s The Bogus Man – you can watch the video below this article. Hive is more than just a transformative force from subterranean origins. It’s an alchemical headspace where monochrome animates into vivid colour. It may not be a carefully ordered insectoid militia set to overthrow society, but it’s a transmission which transcends anything Teeth Of The Sea have thus far offered in their time on Earth.

Hive will be released on October 6th via Rocket Recordings. Physical and digital pre-orders are now available here.

 

Photo credit: Al Overdrive