Debut album from Glaswegian noise rock/post-hardcore band Civil Elegies, entitled 'Aesthetics', to be self-released on cassette and digital download, January 7th 2015.

Formed in January of 2014, Civil Elegies is a three-piece band, featuring current and ex-members of bands such as Friends In America, Thin Privilege, Hunt/Gather, Farewell Singapore, and THISMACHINEKILLSFASCISTS to name but a few. 

The band features no bass and instead focuses on a simple set-up of two guitars, drums and vocals, with an emphasis on sheer volume and chaotic atmosphere. The band consists of Hamish Black on vocals and guitar, Kyalo Searle-Mbullu on guitar and Grant Donaldson on drums.

Musically, the band takes influence from multiple sources, ranging from the claustrophobic volume of Swans, the chaotic energy of The Chariot and The Dillinger Escape Plan, the songwriting and recording tricks of Radiohead, the crushing rhythms of Helmet, the repetition of Arab On Radar and the punk aesthetic of Retox.

In order to capture this feeling of claustrophobia on the recording, and to reflect the incredibly natural and brisk pace of the songwriting (the album was written in about a month), the band decided to set themselves the challenge of recording the entire album live in a single day. With multiple amplifiers running simultaneously at ludicrously high volumes, the amount of noise and feedback running throughout these songs is ear-piercing. It was tracked by Michael Butler and mixed/mastered by the band's own Hamish Black. 

Lyrically, the album is incredibly important for the band's frontman, Hamish. A long-time sufferer of severe and often suicidal depression, Hamish decided to document his experiences with the illness in an incredibly visceral manner. Indeed, following an attempt on his own life not long after the album's completion, the lyrics revealed themselves to take the form of an obfuscatory suicide note.
The sheer noise and chaos found within the recording reflect the visceral and claustrophobic nature of the lyrics. The album takes a great deal of inspiration from various existential literary works, such as Alasdair Gray's '1982, Janine', Dostoevsky's 'Notes From Underground', Kelman's 'The Busconductor Hines', and Nabokov's 'Pale Fire'.

The cassettes will reflect the DIY attitude taken towards songwriting and recording, being self-released, and will also contain a fold-out poster with lyrics and other ramblings as well as unique customisation for every cassette. They will be limited to 50. The download will be released via Bandcamp. 

The band will be launching the cassette/download with a release show on January 7th at Bloc in Glasgow, and are planning to play a number of other shows around the country to coincide with the release.

For enquiries and booking, e-mail Hamish at civilelegies@gmail.com. Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation.

www.facebook.com/civilelegies
civilelegies.bandcamp.com 


Death Cry

CIVIL ELEGIES