Sometimes, an album speaks to you. Beyond just the emotions it relies, it’s like it flashes words into your mind, communicating directly with the secret parts of you. It often happens with a band you already know; your history with them, your familiarity, are like super-conductors for the themes, ideas, and words behind the music, easing their journey inside of you. This kind of direct communication is what I’ve been experiencing with Latitudes‘ new album, Part Island and, even more so, with the astounding “Moorland is the Sea”. It’s a beguiling side-step for the band, taking their established sound in a new direction, more mysterious, softer but also more impactful, a re-working of a post-metal band into something less direct but, somehow, more powerful. We’re proud to premiere the track right here; head on down below for it.
Perhaps it’s the title of this track, but the words which flashed into my mind as I was listening to it for the first time were “sea-change”. Part Island is a marked shift for the band, especially when compared to their previous work, Old Sunlight. That album was a masterpiece, relying mostly on heavy instruments to convey its meaning, utilizing clean vocals to a rare and brutally incisive degree. On Part Island, these vocals are brought into the main, playing a central role on all parts of the album, where they perform beautifully. Their gentle swaying, like a hand outstretched from the darkness or from a deep pool, leads the listener into the depths of the music.
And those depths are definitely there. On “Moorland is the Sea”, they are created by the beguiling synths which haunt the track, by the bass as it carves out caverns in the resounding guitar tones. The entire album is like that, even as it goes back and forth from heavier to softer passages. It is like slow moving suffocation, light seen from the wrong side of a body of water, filtered through the dark waves as they crash above you.
Out on April 5th worldwide, the album can be pre-ordered on special edition vinyl, standard vinyl and CD from the European shop, the North American shop and Bandcamp.