Ampline

Bassist Kevin Schmidt, drummer Rick McCarty and guitarist Mike Montgomery have been writing, recording, releasing music and touring since 2001. Since then, they’ve stitched their way across the United States many times and have done multiple tours in Europe and the UK. Passion Relapse (due on SofaBurn Records) is the group’s fifth full-length. It was recorded, mixed and mastered at Montgomery’s Candyland; an analog-based recording studio located in Dayton, KY.

Tracking live to tape enabled the band to capture the energy of playing together in a room, imbuing the songs with a sense of cohesion and urgency. As raw and propulsive as it is, the new LP is some of the band’s most accessible writing to date. Picking up thematically where their last album left off, the lyrics explore the interrelation of man, nature, industry and theology. Atop a backdrop of a mythical sea voyage, the songs weave a narrative of death, decay, invention and ‘progress,’ metering the growing gulf between corporeal and spiritual.