”They’ve called us anarchists, criminals, foreign meddlers, lunatics, dispossessed, relativists, utilitarians, egoists, passion maximizers, ascetics, negators of everything. Clearly, the “Thou” experiment is never going to appeal to audiences who demand that art rigorously enforce a coherent and righteous worldview.
And yet, are we not ourselves constrained by our own rigid morality? In those quiet moments of deep contemplation, when the bargains and concessions are thoroughly examined, when we yield before the Judging Eye–what is the summation of our choices? If the unspoiled self beyond the immensity of time were given voice, what pronouncements would be made? What would such an internal audit yield? What undeniable character would be revealed?
This record is for the radicals, the crackpots, the exiles who have escaped the wasteland of capitulation. This record is for the militants and zealots refusing to surrender to comforts, to practicalities, to thirty pieces of silver. And this record is most especially for the weaklings and malingerers, burdened by capricious indulgence, hunched by the deep wounds of compromise, shuffling in limp approximation, desperately reaching back towards integrity and conviction.” – Thou
Thou share their seething lead single and album centrepiece, “I Feel Nothing When You Cry” of which the band tell is “A throwaway mantra scraped from the necrotic skin of syndicated television. A lugubrious nod to our favourite commode-crooning diva, one of her most diabolically terse lines. With the sweet, sultry whispers of a legendary New Orleans faerie. This might be as close as we’ll get to a positive, youth crew anthem. ‘This song has nothing original or of value. It’s a steady beat for dancing feet. You got what you wanted, now say the words…’”
Umbilical is Thou’s first full-length release of original music since their 2018 Sacred Bones debut Magus, and 2020 collaborative split with Emma Ruth Rundle, May Our Chambers By Full.
Umbilical will be released across all digital platforms and available in stores May 31st via Sacred Bones.
All vinyl editions come with a black 7” featuring the tracks “I Feel Nothing When You Cry” and “Unbidden Guest”, which are also available on CD and digital products.
Umbilical Digital & CD Track Listing:
1 – Narcissist’s Prayer
2 – Emotional Terrorist
3 – Lonely Vigil
4 – House of Ideas
5 – I Feel Nothing When You Cry
6 – Unbidden Guest
7 – I Return as Chained and Bound to You
8 – The Promise
9 – Panic Stricken, I Flee
10 – Siege Perilous
Umbilical Physical Track List:
LP Side A
1 – Narcissist’s Prayer
2 – Emotional Terrorist
3 – Lonely Vigil
4 – House of Ideas
LP Side B
5 – I Return as Chained and Bound to You
6 – The Promise
7 – Panic Stricken, I Flee
8 – Siege Perilous
7″ Tracks
1 – I Feel Nothing When You Cry
2 – Unbidden Guest
Pre-Order / Pre-Save Umbilical Here
Photo credit – Nathan Tucker