SLOTHRUST to Release WHAT THEY GROW IN THE GARDEN, Tour Through November
The duo of Leah Wellbaum and Will Gorin produced the 12-track record with Jordan Witzigreuter of The Ready Set.
Slothrust and independent New York-based rock label Equal Vision Records have announced the release of What They Grow In The Garden, the new studio album from the LA-based alt-rock band. Produced by the band and Jordan Witzigreuter (The Ready Set), What They Grow In The Garden is billed as 'dystopian theatre rock' and contains 12 tracks. A band once compared to Nirvana, Slothrust now sounds, according to the release, more like a grungier Queen, or the best album Muse never made.
Lyrically, the album is described as an examination of the hive mind that explores what it means to be human and live in a system designed to exploit perceived weaknesses by means of capitalism. The band explores archetypal places like 'the garden' and 'the lake' through an allegorical and surrealist lens meant to encourage listeners to look inward for their big truths instead of at their phones.
'We really want people to take away a message from this album of self-liberation amidst the flickers of seemingly inescapable dread,' Leah Wellbaum and Will Gorin of Slothrust said. 'Despite the permeating blue light of the external world, it is still possible to find your freedom and identify your core truths if you go within.'
The lyric video for the album's new single, 'Hearst Castle,' is streaming online.
Slothrust is currently on the road supporting What They Grow In The Garden. Titled The Dystopian Theatre Tour, the run makes a stop today in Chicago, IL at Riot Fest and extends through September, October and November, culminating in an appearance at The Bellwether in Los Angeles, CA on Wednesday, November 18. Support on the tour will be provided by The Velveteers and Um, Jennifer? in select markets. More information on tickets and VIP packages can be found via Slothrust's official site.
From their lo-fi beginnings on 2012's Feels Your Pain to the polished rock on 2021's Parallel Timeline, produced by longtime Garbage engineer Billy Bush, every Slothrust album has been more ambitious than the last. What They Grow In The Garden, the band's Equal Vision Records debut, is Slothrust's first album as a duo (drummer/multi-instrumentalist Will Gorin and guitarist/vocalist Leah Wellbaum), and according to the release, it's their biggest and wildest record to date.
Gravitating toward demos that spoke to a more universal dissatisfaction, Wellbaum kept in mind musical peers suffering in a collapsing industry, the screen-addiction epidemic, and life under late capitalism and overconsumption. 'We're getting further and further away from tactile, organic humanity,' Wellbaum says, and urges listeners to access the agency they have within these systems. The songs on What They Grow In The Garden detail the impossibility of truly outrunning complicity, but make some leeway into stepping away from the cold blue light of phone screens, according to the release.
Slothrust proves it can go right back to its grunge roots on a song such as 'The Lake,' but is most interested in pushing itself: the very next song, closer 'Dystopian Cemetery,' is a harmony-stacked stadium waltz, complete with pounding piano from longtime collaborator Willy Beaman.
Tour Dates
SEPTEMBER
18 — Chicago, IL — Riot Fest #
19 — Ann Arbor, MI — The Blind Pig *
20 — Columbus, OH — A&R Music Bar *
23 — Brooklyn, NY — Brooklyn Bowl *
24 — Boston, MA — Royale *
25 — Philadelphia, PA — Underground Arts *
26 — Towson, MD — The Recher *
28 — Durham, NC — Motorco Music Hall *
29 — Atlanta, GA — The Masquerade (Hell) *
OCTOBER
01 — Nashville, TN — The Blue Room at Third Man Records *
02 — Chattanooga, TN — The Boneyard *
03 — Cleveland, OH — Beachland Ballroom *
27 — San Francisco, CA — Bottom Of The Hill ^
28 — San Francisco, CA — Bottom Of The Hill ^
30 — Sacramento, CA — Harlow's ^
NOVEMBER
01 — Seattle, WA — Showbox Market ^
02 — Portland, OR — Revolution Hall ^
04 — Boise, ID — The Shredder ^
06 — Salt Lake City, UT — Urban Lounge ^
07 — Colorado Springs, CO — Black Sheep ^
08 — Denver, CO — Gothic Theatre ^
10 — Denton, TX — Rubber Gloves Patio ^
11 — Austin, TX — Scoot Inn ^
13 — Santa Fe, NM — Meow Wolf ^
14 — Phoenix, AZ — The Rebel Lounge ^
15 — San Diego, CA — Quartyard ^
17 — Pioneertown, CA — Pappy & Harriet's ^
18 — Los Angeles, CA — The Bellwether ^
* — headline show, The Velveteers supporting
^ — headline show, Um, Jennifer? supporting
# — festival appearance
Photo Credit: Levi Price
Photo Credit: Levi Price
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