After months spent recording in a vacant pasta sauce factory, previewing new tunes on tour (and at Grand Central), Providence, RI’s The Low Anthem have completed work on the follow-up to their acclaimed 2009 LP, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin. Produced by the band themselves and mixed by Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes, Monsters of Folk), Smart Flesh will arrive on February 22 via Nonesuch. Discussing The Low Anthem’s unusual choice to record in a pasta factory, frontman Ben Knox Miller said:
We knew right away when we stepped into the factory. The space was really the main instrument for the whole record. The resonance was chilling. We were able to experiment with new recording techniques to capture the sound at different distances. Mics 100, even 200 feet away caught the sound barreling across the room.
Equally notable is the band’s love of diverse instrumentation (demonstrated a bit here for their LaundroMatinee session), which, on the new record, includes jaw harp, saw, stylophone, customized antique pump organs, and oversized drum kits. Enjoy a shadowy teaser video and footage of the band chasing (read: running from) a bat around their factory studio with the song “Ghost Woman Blues” playing below:
(Big thanks to our pals at Speakers in Code for the tip.)