Experimental post-rock quintet Seven Seals have released their ‘lost’ debut album Owl Cage today via Cosmic Glue.
Owl Cage is a record that has been ‘lost’ in the void for over 16 years, where the group have been coaxed out of hibernation after an extended period by Cosmic Glue. The record is an exploration of prison via posthumously found sounds, as well as a lesson in the importance of finishing what you started.
“It’s a fascinating theme,” lead Seal, Simon says of the record’s overarching concept. “In the studio, when put together, the lyrics looked like a story about a murder, prison, wrestling with identity, with bad relationships, feeling trapped, and escaping from fate.”
The band have released the one-off single ‘Bikini‘, followed by the recently released ‘Seventh Wave,’ a track rich in its story-telling. The single is a call-to-arms that shakes with a vitriolic post-hardcore fist, inspired by one of history’s most notorious escape artists, Papillon. ‘Seventh Wave‘ floats through references to the ‘butterfly’ himself, while reserving none of the bee-like sting Seven Seals fans have come to relish.
The group explained the inspiration behind ‘Seventh Wave‘ in depth: “‘Seventh Wave‘ is inspired by one of literature’s most glorious prison escapes. Floating on a sack of coconuts Henri Charrière’s Papillon relies on the seventh wave to take him away from the prison colony of Devil’s Island (Île du Diable) in French Guiana.”
“With Owl Cage we wanted to go heavy but not BE heavy… I like the ideas of apocalyptic music and trying to cheat death, Ingmar Bergman’s ‘The Seventh Seal’ was a key influence too” Simon muses.
Highlights include ‘The Big D,’ a track which submerges listeners in layers of lush instrumentals and the spectacular finale ‘The Wheel,’ ending on a climax of explosive frenzy, maintaining all the flourish and finesse that journeyed through each track on the album.
Owl Cage is a formula of feel-good, a refreshing serving of post-rock that has fought its way out of forgotten shadows, a new dawn shedding light on new scenery, and we’re soaking it all up.
Owl Cage is available to stream and purchase now on all major platforms.
TRACK LISTING:
- H
- Murderous
- Bikini
- Owl Cage
- Armadillo
- The Big D
- Seventh Wave
- Hypocrites
- Cake
- Small Broadcasts
- The Wheel