‘Buried Language,’ the sophomore LP from Denver-based industrial duo Echo Beds (comprised of Keith Curts and Tom Nelsen), is an album indebted to the past. Inspired by a tumultuous end to 2016, in which the pair were locked out of their rehearsal space and their gear was held hostage by Denver city officials, ‘Buried Language’ is steeped in rage and self-reliance. Deprived of their usual tools, Echo Beds wrote ‘Buried Language’ over the course of eight months in various living rooms. Daisy chaining unfamiliar electronics and devices, these primitive working conditions shaped the punishing industrial landscape of the album.
‘Buried Language’ should be viewed as a kind of exorcism steeped in metaphor and brimming with social commentary—the album title refers to widespread overnight evictions and boarded-up DIY spaces across the country. It is the culmination of all the heartbreak, frustration, grief and rage and the cyclical nature of DIY space closures.
The band has shared a new video for the album’s standout track, Small Print, created by Echo Beds’ Tom Nelsen. The visuals are haunting and destructive; an appropriate union for the song itself. Watch the soul-stirring new video for Small Print via YouTube below.
Formed in 2010, Echo Beds began as a one-off live set played in a local warehouse and quickly grew from there. Sensing immediately that they’d only scratched the surface of their potential, the duo began experimenting with hand-built instruments and manufactured sounds—such as recordings of broken glass and a metal filing cabinet—in order to explore and interpret the sounds of industry as a sonic landscape. Over the years, Echo Beds has made a name for themselves with their visceral and abrasive live shows that often include a modified oil drum as percussion.
‘Buried Language’ track listing
1. Carved In Stone
2. Buried Language
3. Small Print
4. The Flaw Is In The Design
5. So Many Ways In
6. A Planned Obsolescence
7. Only Surfaces
8. Access Control
9. Still Body
‘Buried Language’ is out now via The Flenser.
