Magnalith's new single, "Sanguinivory," is out now.

Magnalith wasn’t meant to be a band. Now, I’m announcing an album with three new songs and six remastered tracks. This is a side-project but the categorisation seems to diminish its import. “Memento Mori” is a fitting title as, at its core, this record is a reminder to myself to be productive—to live with purpose.

My bands have periods of focused activity and long hibernation. It’s a function of the messiness of life, teams, and creativity. Charitably, some projects are gestational. Practically, the craft is grind, people have competing priorities, and production is expensive. There is inertia to overcome, but when you’re rolling, it’s wonderful work.

Magnalith is a personal device to maintain creative impetus and momentum. It’s a place where wayward ideas can find a home and be revealed—often quickly and without judgement—as the songs they were always going to be. Generally, this collection will feel familiar but with a measure of wildness (“Instrumentality”) and histrionics (“Antimasque”), offering no apologies nor requiring justification. This is what Magnalith can be to me: exploration and experimentation—music as an end in itself.

In this spirit, “Sanguinivory,” which was only mastered yesterday, is now out in the world. Yes, there’s a streaming distribution protocol that says you need to give the algorithm four-to-six weeks to process your track with the hope of receiving playlisting—and I’ll be dutiful later. In any event, here it is: another weirdly pretty song that draws on sources from Castlevania to Caravaggio to makes some meaning of melancholy, pathos, and purpose. At least, that’s the story I tell myself as I enjoy my friends’ performances and engineering skill manifesting the aural beauty and horror of the stuff of life.

I would prefer to be working in a band: building something bigger than our individual talents could achieve; sharing the burdens and the breakthroughs. Happily, Domes has come around to recording another release. That offers some of the most fulfilling work and friendship I can imagine. (Here’s a look behind the scenes.) But I think we stand to benefit from the spadework of Magnalith as here Dave Holmes has achieved some of his finest work as a mix engineer. With “Sanguinivory,” I was surprised by the tasteful treatment of the vocals. To anyone else, this latticing of choral voices might have been frustrating as three apparently competing leads and problematic among the crowding guitar frequencies. Holmes thought about these ​​as different plateaus: foreground and backdrop. The resulting treatment is so curious and better than I could have anticipated. And yet as a master of his craft, it’s just one of the many things he had done with striking sensitivity, fluid intelligence, and stunning humility that makes this record interesting. Subtle and wrought details.

My thanks to H. Walker, Corey Friedlander, and Dan Bosher who played drums, Tyler Tantin who recorded them, Olly at The Lab who hosted us, Brendon Kahi who gave feedback, Alice who encouraged, and Holmes—as ever—for everything.

I hope you enjoy the track. If so, please consider paying what you want for lossless audio or sharing it with someone who might like it.

M.

This post was originally published in the Rothko Records newsletter.