WOOLWORM’S THIRD LP, AWE, DUE OUT NOV 8 VIA MINT RECORDS
LISTEN AND SHARE “HOLD THE BOW” HERE
PRE-ORDER AWE HERE
TOUR DATES BEGIN SEPTEMBER 26 AT POP MONTREAL
“...this killer tune will have you playing it over and over again.” - Indie88 (on “Hold The Bow”
Photo Credit : Lovisa Drever // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
Today, Woolworm announce their third LP, Awe, due out November 8 via Mint Records, expanding the band’s already robust songbook even further by offering a new take on their heavy, hardcore-inflected indie pop sound. Woolworm’s minor-chord melancholy is still featured throughout the album’s first single “Hold The Bow”, but the song’s uptempo, off-kilter rhythms and general urgency amp up the band’s delivery.
Indie88 says of the track: "The gritty new tune revolves around a powerhouse guitar line, a driven drum beat, and intimate, crooning vocal lines that feels almost reminiscent of The Cure or Joy Division. ‘Hold the Bow’ puts a modern twist on ’80s indie rock, and this killer tune will have you playing it over and over again.”
The song was inspired by Marina Abramović's performance art piece Rest Energy, says frontman Giles Roy. “The image of two people leaning back opposite each other, one holding a bow and the other holding an arrow pointed at their heart. Like the piece itself, the song is about complete trust. It's also a sort of love song, but not possessive, romantic love. It's more about unconditional love.”
LISTEN AND SHARE “HOLD THE BOW” HERE
With their massive sonics and anthemic pop songwriting, Woolworm is an arena rock band that just so happens to perform in DIY venues. Their music, which somehow seamlessly combines shoegaze, Britpop, post-punk, hardcore and black-metal into an impossibly cohesive sound, is the sum of their parts. Heather Black pounds her bass like she’s ripping a basement punk set before delivering sweet vocal harmonies straight out of the C86 compilation. Nick Tolliday pummels his drums with the reckless abandon of the hardcore scene that birthed the band. All the while, dual guitarists Alex Pomeroy and Giles Roy offer intricate, complex riff interplay as often as they stomp their pedals and break into hard-hitting power chords.
“People seem to be rightfully wary of rock in general,” Roy says, admitting that his band’s complicated genre blending is rooted in the familiar. “I like the underdog feeling.” That scrappiness is self-evident, but make no mistake: Woolworm are anything but underdogs.
The band’s bleakly fulfilling 2017 LP Deserve To Die saw them smashing their heads against the wall, meticulously planning every note before entering a real studio with venerable Vancouver producer Jesse Gander. This time around, they recorded with labelmate Jay Arner whenever the inspiration hit.
“Even though some of these songs date back to before Deserve To Die, we allowed ourselves to be spontaneous and open-minded here and took a collage approach to the overall record,” Roy says of Awe. “We let it be scrappier and more diverse and less symmetrical.”
The result is a collection of songs that are bristling with immediacy and, well, life. “Deserve To Die was a sort of exorcism, and this one’s more of a meditation,” Roy continues. “That one took so long to write and record that finally releasing it had a cathartic effect. But now we’re done with death. For the foreseeable future, at least. This is more of a life record.”
PRE-ORDER AWE HERE
The bleakness of Deserve To Die has also dissipated thanks to Woolworm’s relationship to Canada’s music community writ large. The band’s malleable sound has allowed them to play recent shows with artists as diverse as country pop crooner Orville Peck and mysterious hardcore legends Integrity, and no one has batted an eye. As a result, Woolworm have connected with audiences and like-minded musicians around the country.
“Ultimately, I think the album is about other people — trying to relate to someone, sometimes succeeding brilliantly, sometimes failing horrifically. Just the process of connecting with anyone is such a trip,” Roy says. “It’s so fucked up to have a real person in front of you and know that you’re each just hiding in your own mind. You can wind up knowing them pretty well but you will never know what it’s like to actually be them. So we’re all alone in our own realities, but then we’re all constantly trusting each other in so many ways. That can go horribly wrong, but when it goes right, that’s the most beautiful thing I can think of.”
Overwhelming feelings, lived-in melodies and masterful rock music. It’s all more than enough to inspire Awe.
AWE TRACKLIST
A1. Awe
A2. Dogman
A3. Hold the Bow
A4. Soon
A5. Finally
A6. Live for You
B1. Might as Well
B2. Much Too Much
B3. Can’t Be Fucked
B4. Without Will
B5. Let Me Wear the Mask
B6. Woe Is Me
TOUR DATES
Sept 26 - Montreal, QC - Quai Des Brumes (Pop Montreal)
Sept 27 - Ottawa, ON - Cinqhole
Sept 28 - Toronto, ON - The Beguiling
Oct 12 - Vancouver, BC - 333
MORE DATES TBA
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