Official press release:
Kowloon Walled City will release their long-awaited new full-length this Fall. Grievances, their third album and first for Neurot Recordings, finds the San Francisco band at its artistic peak, having moved even further away from its sludgy, post-hardcore origins and toward a sparser, sadder, yet still de-tuned heaviness.
This shift began with 2012’s critically successful Container Ships, which Lambgoat described as, “spacious,” and, “mildly hypnotic,” with a, “Shellac-like use of dead time and instrumentation,” and The Obelisk called, “cerebral in approach.” On Grievances, the band takes these elements to even greater extremes. The strings rattle. The guitars crackle and blister. The notes ring out, at turns bleak and beautiful — sometimes both at once.
Vocalist/guitarist Scott Evans said:
“We dug into this expansive, less distorted vibe. The songs are mostly slow and bummed out but we still want them to push, to have energy.”
Evans, together with guitarist Jon Howell, bassist Ian Miller, and drummer Jeff Fagundes spent over two years working on the seven songs for Grievances. The intense editing process weeded out about two albums’ worth of songs. Howell’s unusual chord changes and discordant aesthetic channel Unwound and Slint. Miller’s gritty bass adds a surprising layer of depth and melody, while Fagundes’ drums resonate in what sounds like an impossibly large room. Evans’ shouted vocals are raw with frustration and disappointment, but without the typical veneer of macho aggression.
Miller said:
“We’re not interested in doing something that’s good enough — we want to do something that we believe is good. With Scott’s concept and sonics and Jon’s playing and our rhythm section, we feel like should be able to do something interesting. But it’s hard work.”
The concept of work forms the thematic foundation of the entire record, from the cover art to the title and the lyrics. Whereas previous Kowloon Walled City releases were largely inspired by the band’s hometown of San Francisco, Grievances focuses its attention on our complex relationships with work and the power our employment — and employers — have over us.
As with Kowloon Walled City’s previous releases, Evans recorded and mixed, starting in Sharkbite Studios and finishing in his own Antisleep Audio, both in Oakland. Evans said:
“We’re not a fancy band. There are no effects to speak of, no reverb, no delays. We each play one guitar, one pedal, one amp. So there’s not much to hide behind. I try to respect that in our recording process and our recordings.”
Grievances track listing:
1. “Your Best Years”
2. “Grievances”
3. “Backlit”
4. “The Grift”
5. “White Walls”
6. “True Believer”
7. “Daughters And Sons”
