Photo Credit: Erika Larsson
Swedish post-rock trio BARRENS have released 'A Nothing Expands', the third single from their forthcoming album Corpse Lights, out on 12th September via Pelagic Records.
Stream here: https://orcd.co/barrens
Corpse Lights is the name given to the folk belief that small coloured lights often appear near the home of someone about to die, leading them along the path to their eventual resting place. Often considered to be evidence of the soul leaving the body, the concept of corpse lights embodies BARRENS’ approach to creating music as a cathartic release; not just because they want to, but because they have to. Their writing process is one of joy, light, and release as much as it is dark, heavy, and tense.
Five years in the making, Corpse Lights sees BARRENS strike a breathtaking balance between light and dark; beauty and brutality; the calm and the chaos as the three fast friends refine their formidable command of composition and dynamic even further.
One listen to BARRENS and the revelation that Markku Hildén, Johan G. Winther and Kenta Jansson had already been playing and touring together before forming the band suddenly makes sense. In 2018 Markku joined Scraps of Tape, Johan and Kenta’s other project, as a live drummer for two tours of Europe and a tour of China. Recognising an immediate chemistry, the outlines for what would become BARRENS were sketched out in countless vans, trains, planes and bars as they travelled together across the world.
Back home, the trio wasted no time and quickly turned their collection of notes and motifs into demos; drawing unique inspiration from the experiences they shared as well as exploring new and unknown territories. The result was debut album Penumbra, a dense, elegant and passionate collection of instrumental, synth-driven post rock pieces that sounded in no way like the debut album from a brand new band.
Corpse Lights, BARRENS’ sophomore album, is somehow deeper, richer and headier; imbued with an alluring compositional patience that serves as unspoken testament to the combined creativity of the trio in their element, as something so much greater than the sum of its parts. Recorded and produced by Kristofer Jönson, who also helmed Penumbra, and mixed and mastered once again by Cult of Luna’s Magnus Lindberg, shimmering synthesizers and sprawling guitars lead the charge propelled by exhilarating drums and percussion but Corpse Lights also finds BARRENS using space, silence and atmosphere as another instrument if not as another band member entirely.
‘Corpse Lights’ is the name given to the folk belief that small coloured lights often appear near the home of someone about to die, leading them along the path to their eventual resting place. Often considered to be evidence of the soul leaving the body, the concept of corpse lights embodies BARRENS’ approach to creating music as a cathartic release; not just writing music because they want to but because they have to. Their writing process is one of joy, light and release as much as it is dark, heavy and tense.
In their time, BARRENS have supported the legendary Mogwai, God Is An Astronaut, signed with the famed Pelagic Records and opening ArcTanGent's main stage for the 2023 edition.
BARRENS are:
Johan G. Winther (Guitar, Synths)
Markku Hildén (Drums, Percussion)
Kenta Jansson (Bass, Synths)
For more:
https://www.instagram.com/barrens_official
https://www.facebook.com/BARRENStheband
https://pelagic-records.com/artist/barrens
Corpse Lights tracklisting:
1. Memory Eraser
2. The Derelict
3. Sorrowed
4. Periastron
5. Apastron
6. No Light
7. Collapsar
8. Remnants
9. A Nothing Expands
