CHASTITY BELT share new track "Drown"

ahead of Sept20 th release of self-titled album on Hardly Art!

UK dates in October

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE


NEWS PROVIDED BY
Stereo Sanctity

CHASTITY BELT
- Share new single "Drown"
- New self-titled album out
September 20th on Hardly Art
- October UK tour

Seattle band Chastity Belt have returned with their first new music since 2017. This heartfelt new record, simply titled 'Chastity Belt', is due out on Friday, September 20th on LP, CD, digital, and cassette from Hardly Art records and Milk! records (Australia and New Zealand). 'Chastity Belt' was co-produced by the band and Melina Duterte aka Jay Som.

"Drown" is the third and final pre-release single from this highly-anticipated new record. The track --appropriately enough for a record that sounds like the culmination of years of friendship and collaboration--has roots in the band's early years. Singer/guitarist Julia Shapiro says "I started writing “Drown” back when I was 23... so almost 6 years ago. It came together with the band a few years later. It feels good to finally put it out into the world! Everyone’s parts on it are really intricate and thoughtful and overall add to the moodiness of the song."

Chastity Belt will be touring extensively this fall in Europe and North America in support of the record. See below for a full list of dates.

Hear "Drown":
https://youtu.be/pvfGX6AC-vc

Chastity Belt’s energy is like a circuit, circling around the silly and the sincere. Theirs is a long-term relationship, and that loop sustains them. Tongue-in-cheek witticisms and existential rumination feed into each other infinitely, as long as they’re together. That’s a creative thesis in and of itself, but isn’t that also just the mark of a true-blue friendship?

The band talks a lot about intention these days—how to be more present with each other. The four piece—Julia Shapiro (vocals, guitar, drums), Lydia Lund (vocals, guitar), Gretchen Grimm (drums, vocals, guitar) and Annie Truscott (bass)—are nine years deep in this, after all. It seems now, more than ever, that circuit is a movement of intentionality, one that creates a space inside which they can be themselves, among themselves. It’s a space where the euphoria of making music with your best friends is protected from the outside world’s churning expectations.

Their fourth record, ‘Chastity Belt’, embodies that. The decision to eponymously title it is as strong a statement as any on where they are in their career. “I feel like this record is a really good representation of who we all are, and I feel like we're at a point where we've really come into our own” says Julia. “We're more us than ever.”

After touring Chastity Belt’s last record ‘I Used To Spend So Much Time Alone’ (2017, Hardly Art), the band took a restorative few months in 2018, each member worked on solo material or toured with other bands. “So much of the break was reminding ourselves to stay present, and giving ourselves permission to stop without saying when we’re gonna meet up again,” says guitarist Lydia Lund. “It was so important to have that—not saying, ‘we’re gonna get back together at this point,’ but really just open it up so we could get back to our present connection.” Drummer Gretchen Grimm explains it as “trying to weed out the parts of being in a band that feel like obligation and sticking to things that feel like a true expression of us”

So when they reunited ready to record ‘Chastity Belt’, things had changed – Annie had moved to LA, they’d all been in and out of relationships and their perspectives had shifted. They came together with more intention and assertion than ever before.

With the luxury of spending several weeks in the studio with Jay Som’s Melina Duterte, Chastity Belt were able to take time and experiment. The new self-titled album sees them adding more dynamic vocal harmonies, sharing lead vocals on different tracks, and working with different instruments such as violin (played by Annie), cello, trumpet and keyboards. It makes for an intricate yet uncluttered record that is not only a product of, but a series of reflections on what it means to take what you need, and to understand yourself better. It is some of their most mature, most introspective and nuanced material to date – unhurried, thoughtful and poignant.

Many of Chastity Belt’s signature dynamics, from the silly to the sincere, have read as feminist gestures: the Cool Slut DGAF-iness, the shrugging off of the “women in rock” press gargle, the fundamentally punk act of creating music on your own as a woman, and being lyrically forthright. What the making of ‘Chastity Belt’ reveals is that the band has tapped into a deeper tradition of women making art on their terms: the act of self-preservation in favour of the long game. In favour of each other. In this cultural moment, taking space like this to prioritise the love over the product seems progressive. Chastity Belt’s intentions have resulted in an album deeply expressive of four people’s commitment to what they love most: making music with each other.

‘Chastity Belt’ will be released on September 20th via Hardly Art. Pre-order here: http://smarturl.it/chastitybelt



European tour dates:

Sep 28 - Vienna, AT - Waves Vienna Festival
Sep 29 - Munich, DE @ Kranhalle *

Oct 01 - Milan, IT @ Serraglio *

Oct 02 - Zurich, CH @ Bogen F *

Oct 04 - Schorndorf, DE @ Manufaktur *

Oct 05 - Jena, DE @ Trafo *

Oct 06 - Berlin, DE @ Franzz Club *

Oct 07 - Hamburg, DE @ Molotow *
Oct 08 - Cologne, DE @ Bumann & Sohn *

Oct 09 - Utrecht, NL @ Ekko *

Oct 11 - Paris, FR @ Le Point Ephémère *

Oct 12 - Antwerp, BE @ Kavka *

Oct 13 - Bristol, UK @ Thekla *

Oct 15 - Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club *

Oct 16 - Manchester, UK @ YES *

Oct 17 - Glasgow, UK @ Stereo *

Oct 19 - Oxford, UK @ Ritual Union
Oct 20 – Cardiff, UK @ SWN Festival

Oct 21 - Brighton, UK @ Patterns *

Oct 23 - Southampton, UK @ The Joiners *

Oct 24 - London, UK @ Islington Assembly Hall *
* - w/ GANG



‘Chastity Belt’ track list:

  1. Ann's Jam
  2. Elena
  3. Effort
  4. Rav-4
  5. It Takes Time
  6. Apart
  7. Half-Hearted
  8. Split
  9. Drown
  10. Pissed Pants


For more information please contact:
kate@stereosanctity.co.uk / t. +44 7812 607 230

September 11, 2019 7:54am ET by Stereo Sanctity  

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