FADER PREMIERE
Hot news of the day: San Francisco three-piece The Bilinda Butchers, named of course after the My Bloody Valentine singer/guitarist, will release their debut album, HEAVEN, this July on indie-of-the-year Orchid Tapes. Judging by the lead track, "Edo Method," it'll be one of the least bedroom things they've put out—there's a little Apples in Stereo-style cheeriness in the guitar riffs, the requisite shoegaze, and this eerie familiarity to some power pop band whose name is on the tip of my tongue and also probably printed as a sticker on the bottom of my middle school-era skateboard. Makes me wish I had somewhere better to be. The album's got a fully fleshed concept based on a story by the band's Michal Palmer and his friend, Michelle Yoon—19th century suicide in Japan, more or less. I've pasted their summary below the stream, along with a bigger version of the sick Tsuji Mgumi album art. Preorder the album on vinyl.
The Bilinda Butchers, "Edo Method"
"'Heaven' is the title of the diary written by Nakajima Ume, a young woman who lived in Japan from 1836 to 1864. Its entries catalog her catastrophic marriage to a cruel nobleman, and her later introduction to a young, idealistic poet whose expressions of sympathy inspire her to escape from her unfortunate circumstances. When her friendship with the poet is discovered, Ume is sent away to a distant village, where she falls into a deep depression and eventually learns of the poet’s death. Though the news of the poet’s death initially disturbs Ume, she soon discovers within herself a new sense of clarity and motivation. Her diary ends with a final pronouncement: she will drown herself in order to reunite with her fallen lover."
Tracklist:
1. Ume ft. Juri Nakashima
2. Less Than
3. Old Style Amami ft. Juri Nakashima
4. Shadow Beat
5. Golden House ft. Sarah P
6. New Style Akashi ft. Juri Nakashima
7. The Lovers' Suicide
8. Tanka ft. Lamp
9. Edo Method
10. The River Sumida
11. Golden House 2 ft. Juri Nakashima
12. Heaven Holds a Place ft. Harriet Brown
13. Heaven ft. Juri Nakashima