It’s the week before large paths of the music industry descend on Austin for the annual music-feeding frenzy that is South By South West and naturally, those artists who have new releases on the way are keen to show them off while there. Enter, Baths who will followup the skittering electronic brilliance of Cerulean with Obsidian (lava-formed rock), an album he first started making through a severe and prolonged bout of E.Coli virus which left him bedridden for months.
As a result, much of the new material alludes or outright covers a darkness not previously heard in his music as does the bleak artwork. ‘Miasma Sky’ though despite painful references to being “tall rock shelf are you maybe here to hurt myself” and bounces along in a TEED-style gentle pace with a violin reprise lifting the spirits skyward.
Obsidian is out on Anticon on May 24th-28th.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
