As you by now probably know, closing loops by working with bands over time is one of my favorite things to do. Watching a band's music evolve and covering it at different key moments is a true joy and, maybe more importantly, it gives me a lot of perspective into how these things tend to grow and develop. Today, I get to do that again by premiering Seeress' new album, Empathy. If you don't remember who these guys are, I first covered them seven (!) years ago, when they were making a sort of cavernous, cosmic, and caustic type of post-rock, post metal, and drone combination. Ever since then, I've premiered music from them two times, as they transformed into a more intimate, melancholic, and introspective band.
Empathy completes this transformation, as Seeress slide into more a more shoegaze, emotionally focused sort of sound. Perhaps the closest touchpoint might be Latitudes, as Seeress now conjure the same sort of tension between deep introspection, chilling vocals, and overall dark, inky, but alluringly scintillating atmosphere. We might also say that their sound has shifted from a desire to crush you with outside force with an attempt to illicit force and tension from within, a more contemplative but no less destructive sort of approach.
You can listen to Empathy here in full before it drops officially tomorrow. Make sure to click on through to the band's Bandcamp and pre-order it; it's a real gem.