Next week, long-running Swedish post-rock collective PG.LOST will unveil the eclectic wares of their fifth full-length, Versus. In advance the release of Versus, the band is pleased to reveal the chest-heaving denseness of second track, “Off The Beaten Path.” The hymn initially premiere via Echoes And Dust who notes, “That PG.LOST share a member with Cult Of Luna may not surprise you, but whilst the bands are distinctly different to each other, there’s plenty to be found on Versus that will satisfy fans of Cult Of Luna, Bossk, Pelican, et al,” furthering, “The production is outstanding, every single member of the band works harmoniously with one another, and there’s at least one thing I love deeply about each and every track. It’s a remarkable technical achievement and it deserves recognition.”
Versus will be available on September 16th, 2016 via Pelagic Records on CD and 2xLP in a gatefold sleeve, printed on uncoated paper with limited edition colored vinyl available. Preorders are available now. For CD, visit THIS LOCATION, for 2xLP go HERE, and 2xLP + T-shirt bundle HERE.
PG.LOST is a band of many directions and Versus is a true post-rock masterpiece, an album loaded with great melancholy, heaviness, and catchy musical ideas delivered in an incredible mass of sound. It’s sometimes easy to forget that there are only four people creating these vast orchestral landscapes. Fans of MONO, Explosions In The Sky, Mogwai, Cult Of Luna, EF, Caspian, and Russian Circles pay heed.
The sound of PG.LOST is throbbing with great melancholy, but there’s also a certain element of dirty rock ‘n’ roll found deep within, as in the crushingly heavy closing section of monumental opening track “Ikaros,” in the distorted bass line kicking off the second movement, “Off The Beaten Path,” or in the huge roomy drum sound in general.The band bought their own studio just before the recordings of Versus, which made the recording process both easier and more difficult. “It’s easy to play around too much when you don’t have studio time that is costing money,” comments guitarist Gustav Almberg. Additionally, the effect-saturated vocals, which were a trademark on previous PG.LOST releases, have disappeared on Versus, and given way to more keys and synths. “Kristian was in the middle of heavy touring with Cult Of Luna playing keys every day during that time, so he had a lot of synth-based ideas for songs. I guess this has helped us to take the band into a bit of a new direction sound wise.”The fact that guitar player Mattias Bhatt is currently living in London, while the rest of the band is based in Sweden, proved challenging in making the record. “We have always been a band that for the most part has made music through jam sessions. Nothing good comes out of nine sessions and in the tenth session you strike gold. Now we had to be really focused during the few times we could actually meet. For this album, more song ideas were written at home by the individual band members, and then it went back and forth through the internet. Many times it was a real struggle and it felt like this way of doing it might not be the way for us. But then slowly but surely things started to crystallize.”
