New album, “The Shape Of Noise To Come”, out on November 22nd!
Weaponising ringing, slow, distorted guitars, tape loops, feedback and modular synths, the The Grey Men provide booming drone riffs akin to Sunn O))), early Earth, Fennesz and Boris and Merzbow’s collaborations. Each track is presented as a series of musical canons: a dedication to distorted ambience characterised by slow, beastly riffs, meditative fuzz and subtle shifts between each strike of the strings.
“These pieces are musical canons with simple melodic fragments played in variation,” says synth-player Brad Bennett. “These are then slowed down with layered-in noise to create something that doesn’t immediately reveal its “classical” origins. We’re trying to push against the edges of what music can be by experimenting with fundamentals – ie tempo, timbre and volume. And in our experiments we’re nodding to Ornette Coleman and The Refused, hence: The Shape Of Noise To Come.”
Opening with ringing, monolithic riffs, Witness is the focus track from The Shape of Noise to Come. Each drifting chord hums with both warmth, static and stinging tones, climbing and falling slowly as the song progresses. The riffs cycle into each other with subtle changes between each loop, giving listeners something different to find every time the record starts up again.
“Witness is a good example of our more aggressive pieces that we’ll incorporate into the live set,” says Bennett. “The riff incorporates fragments from pop music (think Radiohead or Elton John) with, of course, the big tritone move found in classics like Black Sabbath – which is a touch cliche for doom, but it sounds rad.”
The Grey Men have recently made their mark with performances at Noise Fest and MMMeetup, along with affording their considerable talents to a low-fi zombie film, the Incognito Art Show. The band’s members have previously collaborated with Glenn Branca, Rhys Chatham, and Kilowatthours.
