Comedy Minus One is putting out the new Bottomless Pit record.
This unto itself is exciting news, but what if we told you the album (the cover of which is pictured above) was going to be released on Lp + Cd before the close of next month and that preorders should start shipping in the consequent three weeks?
“Shade Perennial” (cmo026) will be available globally on October 29, 2013 – an Lp with a compact disc included in the packaging for convenience. It will also be available on all digital platforms.
300 copies of the record pressed on “coke bottle green” translucent vinyl can be exclusively ordered starting today through the CMO web site. You can secure a black vinyl copy here.
At a loss with how to describe “Shade Perennial,” we asked Sohrab Habibion from Obits/Edsel to listen to it and share his thoughts. Find them after the jump, along with a stream of the album’s opening song.
The first ten seconds of “Fleece,” the opening track on Shade Perennial, Bottomless Pit’s mesmerizing third long player, sets the tone for the rest of the album. A carefully considered series of notes are picked on baritone guitar, deliberately unfolding the melody, only to be interrupted by a staccato burst. The guitars wrap around one another over a propulsive and elegantly understated rhythm section. Space opens in the music for a voice to emerge. It is enveloping and hypnotic, and you may play it over from the beginning a few times before moving on.
What do we know about Bottomless Pit? Perhaps you’re already familiar with Tim Midyett and Andy Cohen from Silkworm, a band that put out nine albums between 1987 and 2005. Maybe you’re a fan of Seam, with whom Chris Manfrin drummed, or .22, one of bassist Brian Orchard’s other groups.
None of that matters. What matters are these songs. What matters is hearing Midyett phrase the lyrics to “Full of Life.” What matters is hearing Cohen’s magnificent guitar solo cut into “Null Set” and then disappear. What matters is the way Orchard and Manfrin exercise restraint throughout, allowing the guitars to rise and fall and the arrangements to unfold effortlessly.
By the time the feedback begins and the band fades out on “Felt a Little Left,” Shade Perennial’s final and possibly most widescreen tune, thirty-two minutes will have passed under Bottomless Pit’s spell. This music is an incantation. It’s post-punk perspiration and the well-worn warmth of Crazy Horse. It’s inspired and assertive and won’t make you ashamed to call it the blues.
Bottomless Pit will be playing three Midwestern shows to celebrate the release of Shade Perennial. They are as follows:
Sat. 10/5 – Minneapolis, MN at Kitty Cat with STNNNG and Wereworm
Fri. 11/8 – Milwaukee, WI at Frank’s Power Plant with Light Coma and Wereworm
Sat. 11/16 – Chicago, IL at Township with Light Coma and The Rutabega
More dates will follow in 2014.
Recorded at Electrical Audio – Chicago, Illinois.
Mastered at Abbey Road Studios – London, England.
150 gram vinyl pressed at QRP – Salina, Kansas.
Compact disc manufactured at Bellwether – Bloomington, Indiana.
Jacket and full color inner sleeve printed at Stoughton – City of Industry, California.
Clear external sticker printed at Sticker Guy – Reno, Nevada.
Band photos taken by Mr. King – Chicago, Illinois.