Photo by: Olivia Crumm
Official press release:
The forthcoming full-length from Los Angeles–based band Agriculture, The Spiritual Sound, traces a narrative arc through extremes. The LP is largely a fusing of the visions of its two principal songwriters: Dan Meyer and Leah Levinson. Though distinct, their voices converge in a singular spiritual grammar—one that defines the totality of The Spiritual Sound, not as separate parts, but as one unified expression.
Dan writes like someone clawing toward the divine through noise, channeling Zen Buddhism, historical collapse, ecstatic grief. Leah’s songs move differently: grounded in queer history and AIDS-era literature, amid the suffocating fog of the present, they carry the weight of survival as daily ritual. Levinson leads the charge on the album’s latest single “The Weight” of which she comments:
“‘The Weight’ is part of a series of songs on the album that bears witness to queer life. It was written reflecting on a particular month last year when so much seemed heightened. It seemed like many of my friends were being harassed in public—both verbally and physically—for being trans, for being queer, and/or for being women (it’s not always clear which). This was also a time when I was feeling a lot of love and a lot of community. I wanted this song and the songs around it to honestly reflect both these elements. I wanted to write about transness but didn’t want to rely on political aphorisms and indulgent images of suffering. I wanted to paint a holistic portrait of queer life.”
Agriculture’s formation mirrors their duality. What began as a loose collaboration between Kern Haug and Dan Meyer in the Los Angeles noise scene evolved into a shared pursuit of the sublime through heavy music. With the additions of Richard Chowenhill and Leah Levinson, the project solidified into the band’s current form. The ecstatic black metal foundation that was laid on 2022’s The Circle Chant expanded into something more precise and far-reaching on their 2023 self-titled full-length, and deepened further with 2024’s Living Is Easy: a record that embraced devotional intensity and radiant heaviness in equal measure.
Agriculture’s writing process is built on dismantling and revision of self. Dan and Leah bring songs to the band and then allow them to be pulled apart and rebuilt communally: reshaped through conflict, repetition, and deep trust. Richard adds guitar melodies and solos, and Kern constructs rhythms which are sometimes familiar but often unconventional. Finally, with Richard producing, the final form of each song is realized through intense collaborative work in the studio. Although a time consuming and ego-frustrating process, this allows the band to find the spirit of the songs not through inspiration, but through persistence.
Yet, even in its most ambitious moments, The Spiritual Sound remains rooted in the ordinary and in the day-to-day relationships between the people who made it. Gas station snacks. Inside jokes. Sleeping on floors. Playing shows in rooms that smell like mildew. The spirit here isn’t abstract, it’s live. This is spiritual music that starts with imperfect gear and a long-in-the-tooth tour van.
Agriculture doesn’t offer salvation. The Spiritual Sound isn’t a map out of the fire. What it offers instead is presence: a confrontation with the moment, however unbearable, however divine. It insists that meaning is still possible, even in a world hell-bent on reducing everything to content, and where suffering itself can be conducive to recovery. As the Buddhist saying goes: “the only way out is in.”
Pre-order The Spiritual Sound here and see Agriculture on the road.
The Spiritual Sound track listing:
- “My Garden”
- “Flea”
- “Micah (5:15am)”
- “The Weight”
- “Serenity”
- “The Spiritual Sound”
- “Dan’s Love Song”
- “Bodhidharma”
- “Hallelujah”
- “The Reply”
9/03 Bristol, UK — The Exchange
9/04 Brighton, UK — Dust
9/05 London, UK — Oslo
9/06 Manchester, UK — White Hotel
9/07 Newcastle, UK — The Cluny 2
9/09 Leeds, UK — Brudenell Social Club
9/11 Dublin, IE — Workman’s Club
9/12 Cork, IE — Nudes
9/13 Belfast, NIR — Voodoo
9/14 Glasgow, SC — CORE. Festival
9/16 Paris, FR — Point Ephemere
9/17 Kortrijk, BE — Wilde Westen
9/18 Haarlem, NL — Patronaat
10/08 Brooklyn, NY — Union Pool (Record Release Show)
10/27 San Antonio, TX — Paper Tiger *
10/28 Austin, TX — Mohawk *
10/30 Atlanta, GA — Masquerade *
10/31 Saxapahaw, NC — Haw River Ballroom *
11/01 Silver Spring, MD — The Fillmore *
11/02 Philadelphia, PA — Union Transfer *
11/04 Louisville, KY — Zanzabar
11/06 Oklahoma City, OK — 89th Street
11/08 Albuquerque, NM — Launchpad
11/09 Phoenix, AZ — Valley Bar
11/11 Denver, CO — Hi-Dive
11/13 Salt Lake City, UT — The State Room
11/14 Boise, ID — Neurolux
11/16 Seattle, WA — Madame Lou’s
11/18 Vancouver, BC — Fox Cabaret
11/19 Portland, OR — Mississippi Studios
11/21 Sacramento, CA — Cafe Colonial
11/22 San Francisco, CA — The Chapel
12/04 San Diego, CA — Soda Bar
12/05 Los Angeles, CA — Lodge Room
* = w/ Boris