Solids have releases the video for their track Blank Stare, which is lifted from their forthcoming ‘Else EP’. The clip was directed by Emilio Esteban and it features hand-drawn animation that the director describes as a “disruptive visual attempt to burn down a house, save dogs, and end with a blank stare at the shore.” Watch it via YouTube below.
According guitarist/vocalist Xavier Germain-Poitras the track is representative of the band’s focus on stretching the boundaries of their sound. “I see this song (and the same could be said about the whole EP) as a kind of laboratory in which we tried to forget our habits and reflexes as songwriters,” he says. “To not repeat ourselves was definitely something we kept in mind as we were writing it, and lyrically it’s mostly about comfort as a paralyzing force so I guess we could see that as some kind of general theme. There’s nothing like comfort to slow you down.”
Their first release since their 2014 debut LP ‘Blame Confusion,’ the ‘Else EP’ sees the band checking in after a year of near-constant touring. Having played more than 200 shows in 2014-2015 with the likes of Pity Sex, Makthaverskan, Nothing, PUP, Single Mothers and Metz, the EP reflects that road weariness with a group of songs that vibrate at a lower frequency, documenting the waiting, the bleary-eyed confusion and the blur of days that come with life on the road.
The EP serves as a melancholic deconstruction of the ’90s slacker ethos explored on their first LP, but it also charts Solids’ transition into a wider and more experimental sound, borrowing strands from Dinosaur Jr., Hum and Unwound and coiling them into an anxious, alienated sound that’s all their own. The final product is a snapshot of a band that’s travelled 5000 miles in 19 minutes; a band that’s chained itself to the road in search of inspiration.
‘Else’ will be available April 15th via Dine Alone & Topshelf Records. It’s available for pre-order here.
Upcoming tour dates:
04/08/16 – Petite Boite Noire, Sherbrooke, QC &
04/09/16 – Zaricot, Saint-Hyacinthe, QC &
04/15/16 – Centre Patrick Lepage, Mirabel, QC
04/16/16 – Méduse, Québec, QC &
04/20/16 – Townhouse, Sudbury, ON
04/21/16 – Working Class, Timmins, ON
04/22/16 – Cabaret de la Dernière Chance, Rouyn-Noranda, QC
04/23/16 – Petit Chicago, Gatineau, QC
04/29/16 – Salle des Scouts, Victoriaville, QC
04/30/16 – Sous Bois, Chicoutimi, QC
05/05/16 – O’Briens, Boston, MA #
05/06/16 – Palisades, Brooklyn, NY #
05/07/16 – Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia, PA #
05/08/16 – Songbyrd, Washington, DC #
05/09/16 – Black Forge, Pittsburg, PA #
05/10/16 – Big Room Bar, Columbus, OH #
05/11/16 – Subterranean, Chicago, IL #
05/12/16 – Macs, Lansing, MA #
05/13/16 – Smiling Buddha, Toronto, ON #
05/14/16 – Ritz PBD, Montréal, QC #
05/25/16 – Lata de Zinc, Oviedo, SP
05/26/16 – Dabadaba, Donosti, SP
05/27/16 – Get Mad Festival, Madrid, SP
05/28/16 – La [2] de Apolo, Barcelona, SP
05/30/16 – Nieuwe Nor, Heerlen, NL %
05/31/16 – Rottown, Rotterdam, NL %
06/01/16 – Vera, Groningen, NL %
06/02/16 – La Station, Paris, FR
06/03/16 – El Chicho, Bordeaux, FR
06/04/16 – Less Playboy Is More Cowboy, Poitiers, FR
06/06/16 – The Old Blue Last, London, UK @
06/07/16 – The Picture House, Sheffield, UK @
06/08/16 – The Hope, Brighton, UK @
06/09/16 – Druckluft, Oberhausen, DE
06/10/16 – Zoro, Leipzeig, DE
06/12/16 – Ottinger Villa, Darmstadt, DE
06/13/16 – Cafe V Lese, Prague, CZ
07/08/16 – Grid Lock Festival, Halifax, NS
07/09/16 – Grid Lock Festival, Halifax, NS
07/11/16 – Plan B, Moncton, NB $
07/12/16 – Baba’s, Charlottetown, PEI $
07/13/16 – Thunder & Lightning, Sackville, NS $
07/14/16 – ReNeu Boutique, Fredericton, NB $
07/15/16 – L’Anti, Festival d’été de Québec, Québec, QC
08/13/16 – Wrecking Ball Festival, Atlanta, GA
# – w/ Stove, Clique
% – w/ Metz
@ – w/ Birdskulls
$ – w/ Freak Heat Waves
& – w/ Dernier Sex
