28 Mar 2019

BIG|BRAVE SHARE VIDEO FOR “SIBLING,” THE FIRST FULL TRACK FROM THEIR FORTHCOMING ALBUM A Gaze Among Them is due out May 10th from Southern Lord / U.S. Tour announced for June.

BIG|BRAVE by Rachel Cheng

“BIG|BRAVE are big and oceanic, their music flowing and crashing like waves…Robin Wattie’s clear, piercing vocals, which occupy an emotional zone right at the point between ecstasy and abject despair.” – Pitchfork

“BIG|BRAVE have somehow made a ruthlessly loud record that is also fascinating, and consistently elegant.” – Drowned in Sound

BIG|BRAVE share the first full track “Sibling” from their incoming album, A Gaze Among Them (Southern Lord, May 10th) by way of a brilliant video by Mathieu Ball & Robin Wattie. Watch and share the video now on YouTube.

Since their inception in 2012, BIG|BRAVE have explored terrains of experimental rock with a clear focus on the key principles; space, volume, and raw emotion. The essence of BIG|BRAVE‘s magic has always been the way they balance these dynamics, and particularly how much sheer power comes from the beautifully quiet moments.

The same principles are the starting point for the new album, only the approach is different, beginning with the question “How do we take very little and make something bigger than what we actually have?” vocalist and guitarist Robin Wattie explains further “the biggest challenge was to not do what is easiest. i.e. what we knew worked for the last albums or what is, for us, easy to write. With A Gaze Among Them, Mathieu and I put ourselves through the ringer – I did not want to do what seemed to me to be a ‘logical next step’ in what we could do musically. I wanted to go back to our original concepts and work from there – space, tension, minimalism and voice (finding melody and musicality in pieces that consist of one note for longer than ten minutes, for example) were the primary concentrations I wanted to push.”

In the process of revisiting their early intentions, BIG|BRAVE have boldly evolved, emerging with a thrilling new body of work that is all at once refreshingly new, explosively heavy, dynamically loud, beautifully minimal, carefully repetitive, and totally and utterly cathartic.

A Gaze Among Them features Robin Wattie (vocals, electric guitar, guitar amp, bass amp), Mathieu Ball (electric guitar, guitar amps) and Loel Campbell (drums) with guest appearances from Thierry Amar (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Thee Silver Mt Zion) on Contrabass and Seth Manchester’s synth overdubs. The album was recorded with Seth Manchester at Machine with Magnets in Pawtucket Rhode Island.

The beautiful image adorning the cover (created by Robin Wattie) further demonstrates that BIG|BRAVE have blossomed. The trio sound rejuvenated and confident, and A Gaze Among Them is the sound of a band truly honing their craft, and feeling totally satisfied with it. Compelling. Necessary. Important.

A Gaze Among Them is available for preorder via Southern Lord and on Bandcamp.

BIG|BRAVE – ON TOUR:
May 16 Nurnberg, DE @ Kantine %
May 17 Berlin, DE @ Urban Spree %
May 18 Poznan, PL @ LAS %
May 19 Prague, CZ @ Altenburg 1964 %
May 21 Haarlem, NL @ Patronaat %
May 22 Antwerp, BE @ Kavka %
May 23 Lille, FR @ La Bulle Café %
May 24 Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade %
May 25 London, UK @ Raw Power %
May 26 Glasgow, UK @ Stereo %
May 27 Newcastle, UK @ The Cluny %
May 28 Brighton, UK @ East Street Tap %
May 29 Paris, FR @ Instants Chavirés %
May 30 Brussels, BE @ Magasin 4 %
May 31 Mannheim, DE @ JUZ %
June 1 Winterthur, CH @ Gaswerk %
June 3 Wurzburg, DE @ Cairo %
June 4 Hamburg, DE @ Schute %
June 5 Malmo, SWE @ Plan B %
June 7 Gothenborg, DWE @ Skjul Fyra Sex
June 8 Stockholm, SWE @ Slaktkyrkan
June 14 Wilkes-Barre, PA @ Karl Hall
June 15 Philadelphia , PA @ Johnny Brenda’s ^
June 16 Raleigh, NC @ Pour House ^
June 17 Atlanta GA, The Earl ^
June 18 Birmingham AL @ The Nick ^
June 19 St. Louis, MO @ Fubar ^
June 20 Omaha, NE @ Midtown Art Supply ^
June 21 Colorado Springs, CO @ Triple Nickel *
June 22 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive *
June 24 Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club *
June 25 Chicago, IL @ Subterranean Downstairs *
June 26 Detroit @ Sanctuary *
June 27 Boston, MA @ Hong Kong *
June 28 Brooklyn, NY @ Kingsland *
June 29 Portland, ME @ Geno’s *

^ w/ Primitive Man

  • w/ Dreadought
    % w/ MyDisco

A Gaze Among Them, Tracklisting:

  1. Muted Shifting of Space
  2. Holding Pattern
  3. Body Individual
  4. This Deafening Verity
  5. Sibling