VIDEO: Axis: Sleep – Persuasion

Credit: Krzys Piotrowski

A few weeks ago we told you about the fourth LP by Axis: Sleep, “Blinded By Oblivion”, to be released on October 6th, via God? Records / Drag City, almost five years after the previous one, “Shampoo You”.

For their new LP, the Illinois group traveled to the beaches of Southern California, where they recorded it together with Ty Segallwho was in charge of the production.

After “Hardcore Maps” shared last month, today Americans share another excerpt, “Persuasion”.

Brett Sova talks about the creation of the song and explains:

Meditating on an old riff from Axis: Sova, “Persuasion” began as an instrumental piece that relies on 7/8 time signature and repetition to build seamless tension. Played over and over in the early stages by me and Jeremy Freeze (CAVE) when programming the beat, we eventually developed an austere verse/chorus to offset the riff, with emphasis on vocal harmony to play with natural tension of the song. When Josh Johannpeter (Mahjongg) joined the band soon after, he built a percussive scaffolding around the simple drum machine pattern to help push and sustain the tension all the way to the end, where we tried to create an epic call and response between voice and guitar, taking musical cues from our memory of records like “Low” and “The Idiot”. The wired instrumental passages influenced the song’s lyrical themes, which explore the art of manipulation and how it is practiced by people and on platforms that often evade guilt, a tricky game that can easily subvert one’s perception of reality.

The piece for long stretches shows an unexpected tranquility with delicate melodies and equally surprising harmonies, but there are also long and energetic guitar attacks: simply rock!