San Diego, California industrial/drone metal outfit Author & Punisher will release its new album and follow-up to 2022’s Krüller this fall. The outing has been titled Nocturnal Birding and is scheduled for an October 3rd release through Relapse Records.
With the announcement also comes the official video for the album’s lead single, “Titanis.” The video was filmed this past summer in Bali, Indonesia live with Kuntari, who performed on the studio recording of the track. The clip was directed by Manda Selena and Ican Harem. You can check it out below.
Founding composer, vocalist and mechanical engineer Tristan Shone comments on the new album:
“When I sat down to start writing this album, I knew I wanted to make songs based on birdsong. The actual first guitar riff is one of the meadowlark’s songs. When you listen to ‘Rook,’ that melody is the rook’s sound. That track is us mimicking one of the rooks’ many songs. I wrote all my tracks around the rhythms and melodies of birds I researched or heard in the wild.”
Kuntari on the creation of the “Titanis” video:
“It’s hard to imagine the organic local sequence from us blend with monstrous industrial sound from Tristan. After many hours of discussion we instantly clicked and agreed where the song ended up. The results are beyond our imagination, Tristan easily fluids into fresh territory and we don’t have a border to break to. By far this is one of the most awe inspiring experience for us, not to mention our video production which is insanely epic and hilarious at the same time. The most memorable moment is we share a good laugh along the process.”
Nocturnal Birding was mixed and mastered by Will Putney (Knocked Loose, Body Count) and features artwork designed by French artist Lucile Lejoly (Chat Pile, Roadburn Festival).
Tristan Shone has partnered with collaborators in the past, but according to a press release, guitarist Doug Sabolick (Ecstatic Vision, Plaque Marks, A Life Once Lost, etc.) “is the first genuine bandmate in Author & Punisher contributing creatively on guitar in ways that shape the persona of Nocturnal Birding, complementing Shone in melody and wrought tonal heft.”
Shone continues about the new album:
“I’ve been doing my waterdrop work, which has been eye-opening for me. Border Angels is a group that drops water along the US/Mexico border. Two years ago, they opened up for volunteers again and I got to go out on a hike with them. I was out in Jacumba where I started doing hikes once a month, dropping water and getting to know some people, and I’ve been doing it ever since. It was very humbling and there was always this soundtrack of the birds out there through different seasons. For me it was an awakening: my eyes and ears were open to nature and this cruel and unnecessary humanitarian crisis at the border.”
Nocturnal Birding track listing:
- Meadowlark
- Titanis (ft. Kuntari)
- Mute Swan (ft. Megan Oztrosits of Couch Slut)
- Black Storm Petrel (ft. Fange)
- Titmouse
- Titmice
- Rook
- Thrush
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source lambgoat.com ’
