Photo by: Michelle Mennona
Official press release:
Legendary independent New York-based rock label Equal Vision Records and Bitter Branches are excited to announce the Friday, March 6 release of Let’s Give the Land Back to the Animals, the Philadelphia-based post-hardcore band’s forthcoming album produced by the legendary J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines). While the band’s 2022 debut, Your Neighbors Are Failures, introduced Bitter Branches to the world, Let’s Give the Land Back to the Animals sees its members — vocalist Tim Singer (Deadguy, Kiss It Goodbye), drummer Jeff Tirabassi (Walleye), guitarists Matt Ryan (Cavalry) and Kevin Sommerville (Lighten Up!), and bassist/vocalist Dan Yemin (Paint It Black, Kid Dynamite, Lifetime) — getting dark, moodier and more introspective.
From the ominous syncopation of the album’s opener “Rat Poison” to the discordant dirge of the closing track “Here Comes the Chisel”, Let’s Give the Land Back to the Animals has as much in common with Black Flag as it does the Amphetamine Reptile roster. Pre-order, pre-save and pre-add Let’s Give the Land Back to the Animals HERE.
There is a lot to be angry about these days. From the rise of authoritarianism to income inequality, sometimes it seems like we’re living in a desolate landscape. Bitter Branches’ sophomore full-length, Let’s Give the Land Back to the Animals, is the soundtrack to that apocalypse as well as an act of defiance in the face of it. Correspondingly, when vocalist Tim Singer states “the truth is a promise when we’re young / the truth is ugly when we’re done” on the song “Posture Contest”, he isn’t admitting defeat. He’s channeling the darkness of the world into a cathartic form of self-expression in an attempt to help make sense of our collective reality.
To capture their explosive sound, the band teamed up with J. Robbins, who perfectly understood what the band were trying to accomplish with this new offering. Singer explains, citing the vigilante, Taxi Driver-esque narrative of “Basic Karate” as an example:
“On some of these songs, I let myself explore some dark thoughts in my head. It’s not your typical belligerent music because there’s a lot of open space; it feels like it’s a bit more sinister.”
It’s true. The album doesn’t feature any double bass or detuned breakdowns, yet it’s somehow heavier because of the sparse simplicity of the arrangements and the way the band are able to lock in on a dissonant groove in a way that’s as rapturous as it is relentlessness. Tirabassi explains:
“On our first record I feel like we were all trying to get our feet underneath it, but on this one we really wanted to lean into the groove.”
Singer adds:
“On a fanboy level, especially for us old heads, it scratches that Jesus Lizard itch; a little bit of exploring a lane over there instead of the typical lanes. There’s a lot in that post-hardcore lane that we all love that I don’t think is explored enough … or at least not by the right people.”
Having both Singer and Yemin on vocals also helped give the band a broader sonic palette to work with that helps it from ever feeling rehashed or redundant.
The fact that all five members of Bitter Branches were able to sit with these songs and not rush them out in order to coincide with a touring cycle also helped these evolve into the fully formed versions of the album that you hear today. Tirabassi says:
“When we first came up with ‘Everything Must Go’, it was almost like ‘New Dreams’ by Naked Raygun; it was fast and like a minute and fifteen seconds long. It sounds nothing like that now and that’s because that song was originally written twelve months before we got even close to where it ended up.”
The final result is as moody as it is metallic and features a spoken word breakdown which allows the song to build to a crushing crescendo that takes to a sonic destination that even Bitter Branches didn’t initially imagine.
Those types of magical moments are what lie at the core of the album. It’s an undeniably aggressive collection of songs, but there’s so much nuance in the antagonism — and Singer is as critical of himself as he is of the forces that are conspiring against him. He explains:
“I’m an angry vegan so there’s a little bit of that, but I’m also an angry environmentalist and anti-capitalist. A lot of that stuff we know is terrible we just gloss over and look the other way, myself included.”
Let’s Give the Land Back to the Animals may not solve the world’s problems, but it’s a call to action that’s impossible to ignore. For now, maybe that’s enough.
Let’s Give the Land Back to the Animals track listing:
- “Rat Poison”
- “Cave Dwellers”
- “Pity Party”
- “Basic Karate”
- “Posture Contest”
- “Everything Must Go”
- “High Street”
- “7-11”
- “Fine Powder”
- “Here Comes the Chisel”
