Deeper Announce Sophomore LP 'Auto-Pain'

Chicago's Deeper are returning today with their sophomore album Auto-Pain. Compositionally sharper, more far-ranging in its musical ideas and more emotionally direct than the band's celebrated debut, the new album sees the trio building on their critically acclaimed eponymous 2018 LP to embrace aggressively angular riffs, synth-scapes and a poignant cohesion that runs throughout. Auto-Pain sees the band grappling with mortality, mental illness, harm, and loss, and while it would be easy to get lost in the profundity of these emotional depths, the album acts as an exercise in catharsis and a reminder to take care: of one's actions, of one's community and of oneself. Through the 12 songs on Auto-Pain the band creates a tenacious document of conflicting emotions, embroiled in a search for meaning in darkness when all meaning seems lost. Deeper channel personal and societal anxieties into songs that alternate between apprehensive severity and a palpable feeling of release. Deeper are sharing the first single with the music video for "This Heat", a driving post-punk track that exemplifies the intensity that runs throughout Auto-Pain. Speaking to the first single the band writes that;

"In the dead of Chicago winter, there's a particular withdrawal from sun exposure that presents a deep contrast to the color and excitement of the city in the summer. In This Heat we explore this lack of sun and the seasonal depression that sometimes accompanies it. It's a metaphor for how we cope with particular low points and how euphoric it can feel when the feeling passes-even if momentarily. The song relates to the album as a whole because while the record is about depression, it's also about finding a way to get better. We wanted to bottle up the hope we feel on the first day over 40 degrees"

Brooklyn Vegan says the new track is "a driving and dark bit of mutant pop". Deeper will be on tour with Twin Peaks for a European run in February and a co-headline run with Sub Pop's Corridor in the spring on their way to showcase at SXSW before returning to Chicago to celebrate Auto-Pain at Lincoln Hall on April 2nd. Deeper's Auto-Pain is out on Fire Talk Records March 27th.

Deeper Tour Dates

02.10 - Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique *

02.11 - Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie *

02.12 - Tourcoing, FR @ La Grand Mix *

02.14 - Groningen, NL @ Vera *

02.15 - Den Haag, NL @ Paard van Troje *

02.17 - Bristol, UK @ Thekia *

02.18 - Manchester, UK @ Gorilla *

02.19 - Dublin, IE @ Whelan's *

02.21 - Birmingham, UK @ Hare And Hounds *

02.22 - Glasgow, UK @ King Tut's Wah Wah Hut *

02.24 - Nottingham, UK @ Rescue Rooms *

02.25 - Brighton, UK @ CHALK *

02.26 - London, UK @ Electric Brixton *

02.27 - Salford, UK @ BBC6 Session

03/4 - Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade NYC #

03/6 - Savannah, GA @ Savannah Stopover #

03/7 - Orlando, FL @ Will's Pub #

03/8 - Tampa, FL @ Hooch & Hive #

03/9 - Miami, FL @ Gramps #

03/13 - San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger #

03/14 - Houston, TX @ Satellite Bar #

03/15 - 20 - Austin, TX @ SXSW

03/22 - Hot Springs, AR - Valley of the Vapors #

03/23 - Nashville, TN @ DRKMTTR #

03/24 - Atlanta, GA @ 529 #

03/26 - Richmond, VA @ Poor Richards #

04.02 - Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall (Album Release)

04.17 - Rotterdam NL @ Motel Mozaique

04.18 - Utrecht, NL @ Slathe

04.20 - Cologne, DE @ Hangende Garten

04.21 - Hamburg DE @ Hafenklang

04.22 - Berling, DE @ Schokoladen

04.23 - Prague, CZ @ Rock Cafe

04.24 - Zurich, CH @ Gonzo

04.25 - Luxembourg Lux @ Out Of The Crowds %

* w/ Twin Peaks

# w/ Corridor

% w/ Holy f

What do you do when pain blots out joy? How do you learn to take care of yourself? What happens when the things you think are helping end up doing the most harm? 'Auto-Pain' is the Sophomore album from Deeper, a record that finds the band embracing open space, using synths to create shadows where bricks of guitars once would've blocked out the sun. While it's still within the Great Lakes post-punk tradition of their debut, the album isn't as insular as its predecessor; it's less interested in pile-driving and more willing to dwell in liminal spaces. Guitars enter the picture precisely, locked bass grooves propel things forward. Drummer Shiraz Bhatti, who is half-Pakistani and half-Native American, embraced the drumming patterns he'd heard growing up at pow-wows, channeling the anxieties of his heritage into his playing and keeping the group grounded when they switch into all-out percussive attack. The result is an album both more nuanced and catchy.

Auto-Pain represents the constant wave of depression felt by many in everyday life. Stemmed from Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World', Auto-Pain is a concept meant to be an inverse to soma, a pill in the book which makes everything numb. The idea of auto-pain is to epitomize the desire to return to a connection with thoughts and clarity, which comes at the expense of feeling everything simultaneously. The album artwork features the now-demolished Prentice Women's Hospital in Chicago capturing the band's rounded-off brutalism, and the album title appears in Urdu, a nod to drummer Shiraz Bhatti's Pakistani heritage. The record was recorded and mixed by Chicago scene luminary Dave Vettraino (Lala Lala, Dehd) and mastered at Chicago Mastering by Greg Obis (Ne-Hi, Melkbelly).

Deeper Auto-Pain Tracklist:

1. Esoteric

2. Run

3. This Heat

4. Willing

5. Lake Song

6. Untitled

7. Spray Paint

8. 4U

9. VMC

10. Helena's Flowers

11. The Knife

12. Warm

Photo credit: Jacob Pesci

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