MONTREAL’S BODYWASH RELEASE DEBUT LP, COMFORTER, AUGUST 30 VIA LUMINELLE RECORDS
WATCH AND SHARE “WITH HEAT” HERE
BUY / STREAM “WITH HEAT : SPOTIFY / APPLE MUSIC / SOUNDCLOUD
PRE-ORDER COMFORTER HERE
TOUR DATES BEGIN AUGUST 9
"Soft strings punctuate ambient layers of percussion and interdimensional waves of sonic bliss." - PopMatters
"...dream-pop sound with elegant results...There are endless layers to unpick, where synths collide with guitars and Rosie Long Decter and Chris Steward's vocals perfectly balance and counteract each other to ensure that you get completely lost in the magic of it all." - The Line of Best Fit
"'Eye To Eye' builds beautifully under the power of its gorgeous guitar textures. A dreamy, airy vocal performance fills up the remaining space with the kind of emotionality that immediately seeps into your pores." - The 405
"'Eye To Eye' is a gorgeous return, from its swooping guitar lines to those towering,
cliff-face vocals." - Clash
Photo Credit: Sarah O'Driscoll // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
Today, Montréal's Bodywash share their new single titled "With Heat" from their debut LP Comforter, which is out August 30 on Luminelle Recordings. Initially a guitar-driven indie rock tune Chris Steward wrote for a contest, “With Heat” took on new life when Rosie Long Decter broke the song into spare parts on a computer, slowing it down, changing the key, adding layer after layer until something entirely new emerged, and the song took its final form. The single comes complete with a video from director Max Taeuschel. Long Decter had this statement about the track:
“‘With Heat’ began as something entirely different - a ‘90s alt-rock instrumental that Chris wrote in 2016 for a contest. We’d pretty much decided not to include it on the album, but in October 2017, while Chris was upstairs recording guitars for some of our other songs, I holed myself up in an empty room beneath the studio to break the track down to its bones. I changed the key, altered the chord progression, and overhauled the sound, aiming for something fuzzy and warm and wistful. The idea of reworking it had been floating around my head for months, but the whole thing actually happened in three days - I tracked the synths and vocals and then Chris did the guitars at 2am on our last night there.
The song comes from a feeling of being trapped - of returning to something you know is bad for you, whether that thing is a relationship or a place or a feeling (for me, it was all three). It gets at the tension between giving into a toxic situation and trying to forgive yourself for it, while still hoping for a way out.
With the video, we wanted to convey that tension - to create a sense of claustrophobia, of being enveloped and haunted by something that you can’t quite articulate. A woman moves through a house, touching the walls, exploring, looking for something; she might not ever find it, but she keeps looking. ”
Max Taeuschel adds, “ ’With Heat’ explores longing, instability and acceptance through a surreal night in a house experiencing opposing elemental effects. Using copious smoke, coloured lights, and shooting a CRT TV through water, the video evokes a dreamy fantasy within the suburban mundane.”
WATCH AND SHARE “WITH HEAT” HERE
BUY / STREAM “WITH HEAT : SPOTIFY / APPLE MUSIC / SOUNDCLOUD
MORE ABOUT COMFORTER
Bodywash was formed in 2014 when Chris Steward and Rosie Long Decter began jamming in a basement rehearsal room at McGill University. Bonding over a shared affection for shoegaze and dream pop, the two found an immediate chemistry. “There is an excitement that comes from having people of diverse backgrounds and personalities in one room,” says Steward, “trying to make something beautiful together.” Tom Gould joined soon after on bass, and they recorded an EP in 2016.
When it came time to make a full-length album, Bodywash enlisted Nigel Ward to record the LP. However, the road to Comforter wasn’t easy. The recording process spanned two years and five recording studios, with the band constantly rewriting, reworking, and rearranging songs, until every note and tone felt exactly right. Drummer Ryan White joined the band mid-way through the recording process. “The album evolved as we were evolving as a band,” says Long Decter. “You can hear us grow and change with each song.” The final product was mixed by Taylor Smith and Austin Tufts of the band Braids, and was mastered by Evan Tighe.
“The joy of experimentation is everything,” says Steward. “The whole thing is alchemic, trying to combine a bunch of ingredients together to make gold, or whatever gold is.” Long Decter agrees. “We’re perfectionists,” she says, “but it comes from a place of feeling.”
LISTEN AND SHARE "REVERIE"
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube | SoundCloud
The result is the perfect insomniac’s record, a late-night album of emotional extremes, from the enveloping warmth of shoegaze to the stark electronics of 90s trip-hop and IDM. Guitars blur in and out, melodies vanish and appear, synths blinking like lights in a fog. It’s an album of obsessive detail buried in a blur of reverb. It draws you in and pushes you away in equal measure.
Album standout “Twins” began as a thirty-second guitar loop, with Steward adding layer after layer of synths. It careens from despair to an exhilaration, a manic scream of a song that reaches a full catharsis. “We deal a lot in sonic moments of anxiety,” says Long Decter, “but the goal is to live in that space between extremes, between worry and comfort.”
The album closes with the epic “Another Plane”. Built on a combination of krautrock-style rhythms and breakbeats with a haze of guitars and synths hovering above, it glimmers with possibility. The song is a harrowing account of the frantic moments when reality begins to blur, a gaze over the emotional edge of things. With its increasing emphasis on electronics, “Another Plane” is also a look into what sonic possibilities might lie ahead for the band.
Comforter is a document to a band’s own becoming, the exhilaration that comes from constant exploration, the drive for perfection and the joy of learning how to let things just be. It’s a mix of contradictions, the smothering warmth and the frigid cold, the chaotic and the peaceful. It’s a testament to the way that from many familiar ingredients something new can be formed, the joy and wonder of what’s possible when four people are in a room together, trying to make something beautiful.
LISTEN AND SHARE “EYE TO EYE”
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube | SoundCloud
BODYWASH ARE
Chris Steward - vocals and guitar
Rosie Long Decter - vocals and synths
Rian Adamian - guitar
Tom Gould - bass
Ryan White - drums
TOUR DATES
Aug 09 - Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern %
Aug 10 - Montreal, QC - Bar Le Ritz %
Sep 01 - Montreal, QC - Diving Bell Social Club ( Album Launch / Hot Tramp Fest )
Oct 04 - Toronto, ON - Monarch Tavern ( Album Launch )
% with Mauno
PRE-ORDER COMFORTER HERE
COMFORTER TRACKLIST
1. Reverie
2. Twins
3. With Heat
4. Sunspots
5. Eye to Eye
6. Reprise
7. Paradisiac
8. Comforter
9. Another Plane
BODYWASH ONLINE
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