SUMAC Ready New Album 'May You Be Held'

BY Calum SlingerlandPublished Jul 9, 2020

SUMAC have returned with details of a new album. The American/Canadian trio will unleash new LP May You Be Held on September 18 through Thrill Jockey.

The five-track May You Be Held follows SUMAC's 2018 album Love in Shadow, and was recorded throughout 2017, 2018 and 2019 by Converge's Kurt Ballou at Robert Lang Studios, Matt Bayles at the Unknown, and at House of Low Culture.

Musically, the album is said to exhibit "extreme discipline and control on one end and an almost feral energy on the other," while the humanistic themes of Love in Shadow continue to be explored lyrically. The songwriting is partially informed by vocalist Aaron Turner's experiences in family life and fatherhood.

"It's clear humans have figured out many ways over the centuries to acclimate to adverse circumstances, and even to thrive in them," Turner said in a press release. "My hope for our family, humanity and future generations, is that we find our way by doing what we have always done — invent, adapt, band together, and ideally, hold each other up through love and kindness.

"As an artist in this time of significant upheaval, society seemingly having reached the end of its current iteration, it's of critical importance to absorb and interpret this process of dissolution — and of the transformation that hopefully follows it. While I don't believe we're on the brink of collective destruction precisely now, this is clearly a pivotal stage in the story of humankind — and there is something that feels right about this music at this exact and very uncertain moment."

Last year, SUMAC collaborated with Japanese experimental legend Keiji Haino for Even for just the briefest moment / Keep charging this "expiation" / Plug in to making it slightly better, which followed their 2018 team-up American Dollar Bill - Keep Facing Sideways, You're Too Hideous to Look at Face On.

May You Be Held:

1. A Prayer for Your Path
2. May You Be Held
3. The Iron Chair
4. Consumed
5. Laughter and Silence

Pre-order May You Be Held.

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