Description
The debut album from UK Post-Rock’s great hope, PIJN. 66 minutes of pure cinematic bliss, for fans of Pelican, Isis and Russian Circles.
From guitarist/vocalist Joe Clayton – “For us, this album has been a long time coming. As a collective we had been writing towards this release before our first EP was released, and through the extensive touring we have done since then, we found our focus for the record. Recorded and mixed through the first half of 2018 at our own studio, we expanded the collective by opening our arms to contributions from anyone that could take solace in talking through their experience of loss. We wanted to reach people on a personal level, and for them to share in the catharsis that making the record had given us.”
Thematically, ‘Loss’ follows some of the stages of grief, with the four sides of the record designed to work as standalone pieces. The band asked for members of the public to share their experiences of loss with them, as confronting their own experiences had a powerful cathartic effect and helped the band work through things together. They were inundated with submissions, many of which were extremely difficult to read as they were so personal, so they talked with people on the phone, were sent poems and even sent songs. They put everything to use for the album in some form, written text and photographs making up the artwork, audio sent was processed to make drones or samples upon which songs were built or was layered within the tracks on ‘Loss’.
‘Blanch’ features a sample from Sister Rosetta Tharpe performing ‘Didn’t It Rain’ in Manchester in 1964, an iconic show which inspired generations of musicians that happened right near to where many of PIJN now live.‘Squalor’ features a sample from Heartworn Highways of Uncle Seymour Washington, neighbour of legendary singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt, whose down to earth worldly advice represents the life those trying to live for their music are surrounded by. Many sections of the album feature a shepard tone created by the last note of the album. As an ever descending note this sound was used for tension throughout the record and to bring the very end and the very start of the album together.
On top of this, members of the band have been extremely interested in representing the thematic elements of the fleeting nature of life through other mediums. In lieu of standard ‘music videos’, an extended sequence of short films and vignettes has been made, soundtracked with many different versions of one of the songs, and every now and then the ‘single’ will feature. It cannot be guaranteed that when someone looks at the film that they will hear the version of the song on the album, but they will experience alternative versions of it.
