Anarchic post-punk band Blessed who are coming to Pittsburgh’s best coffee shop and rock venue Black Forge on April 28th. A DIY touring machine, they have played over 200 shows with bands like Preoccupations, The Courtneys, Chastity, and The Austerity Program.
“Dominated by the high-fructose riffing pioneered by Deerhoof, giving way to a darker, propulsive jam that’s just as chaotic, yet well-controlled.”
The Fader
“Late-00s indie filtered through the spasticity of Thee Oh Sees or Emperor X. As a whole, the whole thing carries a peripatetic weight that’s not dissimilar from the Liars records of yore, and resonates as both more playful and more robust.”
Consequence of Sound
Post-punk blown out to a prog-rock scope
Stereogum
“Blessed’s sound is weird, noisy and harsh, drawing from surf, rock and post-punk in equal measure. It’s if Radiohead decided to go back to playing guitars and singing actual words with a Siouxsie and the Banshees twist.”
Noisey
“It’s a nonchalant take on the weirder side of post-punk – one that’s impossible to look away from as it takes every approaching corner at high-speed.”
DIY MAG
“Like Devo spliced onto Marquee Moon, cut and diced and reassembled into something even greater – diabolically wrong, but so good.”
Gold Flake Paint
With two EPs and a handful of 7-inches under their belt, Blessed are finally releasing their long-overdue debut album, Salt. A sprawling, dark post-punk gem, Blessed have already gained praise from FADER, Stereogum, Consequence of Sound, DIY Mag and more, and are now doing what they know best – hitting the road once more.
| Formed in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley, an area colloquially known as Canada’s Bible Belt, Blessed have always been an unlikely DIY success story. Purveyors of an anarchic and cerebral brand of roiling post punk, the band has self-released two EPs that have been praised by outlets like FADER, Noisey,Stereogum, Consequence of Sound, DIY and GoldFlakePaint, and toured relentlessly playing over 200 dates with artists like Preoccupations, The Courtneys, Chastity, and The Austerity Program, and today, they are announcing their long awaited debut LP, Salt.LISTEN: To Blessed’s “Disease” on Paste // YouTube Due out April 5th the album was recorded and mixed over three weeks in Montreal with producer Jace Lasek (Suuns, Wolf Parade, Land of Talk), and finds this already expansive group pushing the boundaries of their sound. Having incorporated a fifth member on guitar/keys, they explore the nuances only touched on in previous releases, with songs that range from short, staccato, punk-tinged flares to lengthy escapades that recall Deerhunter’s noise-rock freak-outs and Do Make Say Think’s lush cinematic passages. To mark the announce the band have shared the first single “Disease” via Paste. Paste highlight the blend of post punk with new wave textures on the track, which captures the band in a moment of doom-laden theatricality, as ominous synth leads flow into with layered guitars to deliver a sound somewhere between the spiny sharp edges of Josef K and the dour synth pop of Depeche Mode. In conversation with Paste the band reveal the typically meticulous process that went into the track’s creation. “We had created two versions of the song while recording it, because we felt unsure of the direction we wanted to end up with,” the band tell Paste. “Everybody tracked this song twice, structurally the same but with very different aesthetic choices regarding the sound design. We happened to be in the same place at the same time as our friends The Avulsions at the time as well, so Josh stopped in to track a couple moments on this track. One was much safer, cleaner, and almost completely devoid of effects in any form. We mixed the album in the middle of a lengthy tour, swapping headphones in the back of the van and during downtime between soundchecking and bands starting. When we were ready to start mixing this track, Jace Lasek, who engineered our album, sent us this version. It was the first track on the record that we sent back with zero notes and felt needed nothing done. After spending so much time going back and forth while recording, we had gone too far into our own heads to realize one felt overbearingly better than the other.” In support of Salt Blessed will be touring extensively in 2019. Their first set of dates, which begin in March and will include a stop at SXSW are detailed below. Blessed’s Salt will be released April 5th. It is available for preorder here. |
| Tracklist1. Rolled In Glass 2. Thought 3. Purpose & Conviction 4. Zealot 5. Pill 6. Anchor 7. Disease 8. Caribou Tour Dates 03/07 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Underground 03/08 Denver, CO @ Nude City Relief Center 03/09 Albuquerque, NM @ The Fly Honey Warehouse 03/10 Denton, TX @ TBA 03/13 – 03/16 Austin, TX @ SXSW 04/05 Abbotsford, BC @ Rugby Club 04/06 Vancouver, BC @ Red Gate 04/09 Calgary, AB @ The Palomino Smokehouse & Social Club 04/10 Lethbridge, AB @ The Slice 04/11 Edmonton, AB @ The Buckingham 04/12 Saskatoon, SK @ SK Indoor Skatepark 04/13 Winnipeg, MB @ The Handsome Daughter 04/15 Fargo, ND @ The Aquarium 04/16 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry* 04/18 Iowa City, IA @ Iowa City Gabe’s (Downstairs)* 04/19 Madison, WI @ Art In* 04/20 Milwaukee, WI @ X Ray Arcade* 04/21 Chicago, IL @ Subterranean (Downstairs) 04/22 St. Louis, MO @ FOAM 04/23 Fayetteville, AR @ Backspace 04/25 Nashville, TN @ Drkmttr Collective 04/26 Lexington, KY @ Best Friend Bar 04/27 Cincinnati, OH @ The Comet 04/28 Pittsburgh, PA @ Black Forge * w/ Tunic Blessed website |