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RADAR PEAK - PUP’S NESTOR CHUMAK AND ZACK MYKULA TOGETHER WITH MATT ALDRED OF MODERN SUPERSTITIONS, MICHAEL RAULT, + NYSSA - DEBUT SELF-TITLED LP, OUT OCTOBER 20
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Photo Credit : Elissa Pearl Matthews // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
Today, Radar Peak, comprised of Nestor Chumak and Zack Mykula (PUP) and Matt Aldred (Modern Superstitions), are sharing another three and a half minute meditation on the themes of physical and emotional dislocation from their upcoming, debut, self-titled album, due out October 20, 2023. Framed by alternately chugging and jangly guitars, a melodic bass line, snappy drums and some homegrown production flourishes, “Butane Glow” starts off sparsely enough but by the end just about every hook imaginable is clamouring for attention. You might get a tooth ache if you listen to this one twice in a row.
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MORE ABOUT RADAR PEAK
Radar Peak is the ‘not-so-new’ project from Chumak and Mykula, who spend most of their time on the road with the JUNO Award winning and Polaris Music Prize nominated outfit PUP, and Aldred, the much sought after musician and collaborator know for his work with Modern Superstitions, Michael Rault, and Nyssa. While they may be announcing their debut record today, the band itself sees its roots formed almost 20 years ago. “The three of us have been entertaining each other’s musical curiosity, in one way or another, for twenty years,” says Mykula. “From highschool - a time when bands made their homes in garages - through to all of life’s intentions.” Though their ‘garage’ band broke up in 2006, through a miracle in scheduling, when all three musicians were both not on tour somewhere and back home in Toronto in 2016, the three re-ignited that curiosity and found themselves together again, and back in a garage.
It’s the early 2000s. That ‘garage’ band the three formed in high-school, the Vibrosonics, had been a space to pursue ambitious compositions, with each member pushing the others to become more technically proficient and to surprise the others with heterodox progressions and harmonies. They pushed each other to grow quickly as musicians, but they also grew apart as collaborators, and the Vibrosonics disbanded in 2006. Shortly after, Aldred formed the Toronto rock group Modern Superstitions (Last Gang) with NYSSA, collaborating with Brian Borcherdt (Holy Fuck), Ben Cook (Fucked Up), Patrick Pentland (Sloan) and John Critchley on the band’s production — he has since become a sought-after collaborator and session player. Chumak and Mykula pursued individual projects before reconvening in 2011 to form the band PUP who have released four records to widespread critical acclaim.
WATCH / SHARE “HEAVEN’S GATE” LYRIC VIDEO HERE
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Fast forward a decade to the West End of Toronto. Aldred was home from a global tour in Michael Rault’s band, opening for Chicago’s Whitney and Australia’s King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, while Chumak and Mykula were recovering from playing over 100 shows across North America, Europe and Australia with Modern Baseball, Jeff Rosenstock, Charly Bliss and others. Coming home after a party in their old neighbourhood, the three started talking - not about the new places they’d seen and exciting people they’d met, but about what they’d missed, including playing with each other.
“When we first started, we were just kids — green as can be,” Aldred reflects. “It wasn't until after we'd split up that we learned how to make the music we loved.” Mykula adds that “that spark of connectivity seemed always enough to lead us back together. Afterall, nurturing each other’s wherewithal has, to date, always provided.”
For the next four years, they sent each other ideas, giving themselves permission to explore and to develop the kinds of deep textures that their other commitments would never allow. “None of us had ever steadily built songs from the ground up, one by one, in order to create a whole, cohesive record,” Mykula says. “We were able to discover new directions, but were sometimes paralyzed by options and potential. Thankfully, we were able to rely on Marcel Ramagnano to ‘edit’ the madness into something palatable.”
That madness that accompanies touring, separation, and exploration became a kind of power pop that reflects both the yearning and the self-deprecation of a self-aware person living a modern, dislocated life. And in those deeper, darker boxes in the garage were the kinds of stories that this madness deserved: of a late-night Kafka dependent on free WiFi and Farfisa to feel whole, of a sniper’s target who realizes that that deadly attention is a form of love, of living a life so cautious and sensible the world passes you by entirely, of a musician who has been on tour so long that his body has lost its sense of home and his soul has become restless for a trial separation. Each song feels exuberant yet meticulously written, simultaneously fresh and remembered. When it came time to name the project, they were drawn to the grieving physicist in Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem, who sends the message that seals humanity’s fate from her lab atop the Radar Peak to which she has been banished.
The result is their self-titled debut record - songs built through trust and curiosity. A dense thrum of guitars and drums. A lush and noisy record about the isolation of modern connectivity. But also, it’s rock and roll.
READ THE FULL BIO FROM DAVID HOBBS HERE
RADAR PEAK TRACKLIST
01 Heaven’s Gate
02 Butane Glow
03 Sniper’s Muse
04 Counterfeit
05 Stepping Stone
06 Longtime Caller
07 Girl On Bike
08 Index Of Tears
09 Maggie & Pete
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