Progressive rock act The Contortionist recently released the new video and single Absolve, taken from their forthcoming LP Clairvoyant, due for release on 15 September via Longbranch / SPV.
Absolve is available on all streaming services today and, along with first single Reimagined, is available as an iTunes Instant Gratification track – fans who pre-order the album via iTunes will receive both tracks as instant downloads.
The Contortionist upcoming release Clairvoyant is the highly anticipated follow up to Language, the genre defying LP that continues to garner critical acclaim. Clairvoyant, which reunited the band with producer Jamie King (Between The Buried And Me, Through The Eyes Of The Dead), takes the best elements of The Contortionist’s past and reshapes them as the band follows their individual creative muses toward the future.
The band wrapped up a tour with Periphery earlier in the summer, before embarking on an intimate UK headline run and a slot at Download Festival. In September, The Contortionist will be main support on Between the Buried and Me’s 10-year anniversary tour of ‘Colors’. A European tour will be announced later on in the year.
Check out Absolve below!
We managed to catch up with the lads as they talk about the latest single, upcoming album and more!
So how has the release of Absolve gone down so far with fans?
The response to Absolve has been great. There’s always a certain degree of apprehension when you put fresh, young work into the world, but it appears our listeners have come to expect a few surprises. It’s always been a highlight of the record for me, and I was happy we chose to present it early because it was actually one of the earliest written for the album.
Tell us something about the single no one knows.
Hm… that’s tough. The big outro is my favourite part of the record? Cameron and I riffed thoughts quite a bit over the melodies in the guitar and keyboards and how to weave all the best accented notes.
How pumped are you for the release of Clairvoyant in September? Can you tell us a bit about this album?
The writing and recording of Clairvoyant was intense. It was the longest and most immersive process I have ever experienced in making a record. We came out of it with a dense album/artifact, but also unfinished music that came from these sessions that couldn’t make it on Clairvoyant that we hope to bring back to the next time we write.
How was Download Festival earlier this year?
Download was amazing; we had a great show and the festival was all kinds of fun.
How pumped are you to be touring with Between the Buried and Me?
Beyond the fact that they were a large musical influence for TC, BTBAM are good friends at this point, and we have toured together a number of times. We share some of the same fans, so it makes for some of the best shows ever for the band. They were a big part of our reason for working Jamie King; we had all been fans of his records for years.
If you could work with any band on a new song, who would it be and why?
This is a question that could provide an endless list of answers, but maybe a good place to start would be a band like Pink Floyd. I’m sure this would resonate with the group, as well, because of how much influence the band has had over all rock and progressive music over the years. Like anyone who has an artistic process, I’d like to learn how they would make decisions and behave in the studio. A complete master like Stevie Wonder or Miles Davis would be another great answer, just to learn from an unconventional approach and be immersed in that particular musical language. Writing a song with David Bowie or Paul McCartney would be cool. Personally, I’ve always had an inclination towards soundtracks and scoring and hope to continue that one day, so someone like Hans Zimmer or John Williams would rank high. I’m largely self-taught, so the recording process is very much a learning process between the people working together.
As for a more realistic answer, some of the ones most relevant to The Contortionist are guys anyone would give as an answer; Devin Townsend, Steven Wilson, Trent Reznor… I’ve always been a big Omar Rodriguez-Lopez fan, both in musical output and unique approach.
The most interesting answers to this question are the ones more off-base for us, though… We have strangely diverse listening habits that range from R&B to pop country (unfortunately), so I think these would be some of the most interesting collaborations… Well known stuff, but maybe weird for us, like Bohren and Der Club of Gore, Active Child, Thundercat, Perturbator, Com Truise, Jaga Jazzist, James Blake, Bon Iver…. lots of guys that are way over our heads!! Ultimately, we are into the idea of almost any kind of interesting collaboration.
What do you guys get up to in your spare time?
We all unwind in different ways. If I’m not working with TC, I’m generally making bad jokes with my friends, digging into other musical side projects, or hanging out with my dog somewhere near the water, still making bad jokes.