The Menzingers kündigen das Album „From Exile“ an, das im Herbst via Epitaph erscheinen wird. Digital bereits am 25. September, als Vinyl dann am 13. November. Bei dem Album handelt es sich um eine neuinterpretierte Version ihres 2019er Erfolgsalbums „Hello Exile“ (Albumreview), die aus der Isolation heraus entstanden ist.
Denn eigentlich war die Band Anfang des Jahres auf Australien-Tour, die aufgrund der Corona-Pandemie abgebrochen werden musste. So machten The Menzingers aus der Not eine Tugend und mit „Strawberry Mansion“ und „High School Friend“ gibt es ab sofort zwei Vorboten auf die Ohren. Sänger und Gitarrist Greg Barnett erklärt:
“The live music industry vanished before our eyes, and just like that we were out of work like tens of millions of others. As the weeks progressed the upcoming tours got rescheduled, then rescheduled again, then effectively cancelled. There were times when it all felt fatal. There’s no guide book on how to navigate being a working musician during a global pandemic, so we were left to make it up as we went along. We wanted to document and create in the moment, and though we couldn’t be in the same room together due to social distancing lockdowns, we got creative.”
Wie diese Kreativität aussah, beschreibt er folgendermaßen:
“We would track the songs from our own home studios, share the files via dropbox, and pray it all made sense when pieced back together. Initially, we planned for the album to be similar to our acoustic demo collection ‘On The Possible Past,’ but we quickly found out that this batch of songs benefited from more detailed arrangements. We rewrote, and changed keys and melodies. We blended analog and digital instruments in ways we never had before. We dug through old lyric notebooks and added additional verses. We got our dear friend Kayleigh Goldsworthy to play violin on two songs. No idea was off limits. Hell, I even convinced the band to let me play harmonica on a song (no small feat!). The recording process ran from mid-March till June, and upon completion we sent it over to our dear friend and close collaborator Will Yip to mix and master.”
Stream: The Menzingers – Strawberry Mansion
Stream: The Menzingers – High School Friend
Tracklist
01. America (You’re Freaking Me Out) (From Exile)
02. Anna (From Exile)
03. High School Friend (From Exile)
04. Last To Know (From Exile)
05. Strangers Forever (From Exile)
06. Hello Exile (From Exile)
07. Portland (From Exile)
08. Strain Your Memory (From Exile)
09. I Can’t Stop Drinking (From Exile)
10. Strawberry Mansion (From Exile)
11. London Drugs (From Exile)
12. Farewell Youth (From Exile)
