Formed in 2001 from the ashes of cult ’90s indie outfit Versus, +/- {Plus/Minus} were always ahead of their time—even beyond adopting a virtually ungooglable moniker in a pre-SEO era of …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Deads and Casiotone for the Painfully Alones. Their early material often blurred the line between Ben Gibbard’s two primary early-’00s bands, with soft vocals and folky guitar constantly being interrupted by experimental synth flourishes, post-hardcore riffing, and manic drumming.
Today the band returns 10 years after their fifth and last album, 2014’s Jumping the Tracks, sounding as fresh as ever. Their new record Further Afield will arrive at the end of May, and they’re sharing the lead single “Borrowed Time” to offer a sense of how their sound has developed in the interim. Squealing synths? Check. A blur of percussion? Check. Hairpin turns instantly changing the trajectory of the song? Check. Maybe not much has changed.
Described by the band’s Patrick Ramos as “an exercise using a feature on the Moog Matriarch synthesizer that randomizes octaves so you don’t know where any single note will land,” the recording’s unexpected lurches are finely sanded down with jangling guitar reminiscent of The Walkmens’ glory days and Ramos’ ever-calming vocals. “James [Baluyut] recorded the first sound [the Moog] generated and built the structure of the song around it. Chris [Deaner], after recording his drum part, decided to double it in an attempt to mimic his first performance. With only slight variations in his play, each take is hard-panned to the left and right resulting in the effect of an expanded and dizzying stereo picture.”
To further disorient the listener, the band is also sharing a music video for the tune which went through a similarly intensive process of innovative DIY creation. “The video, conceived at 3:00 a.m. on the beach on Chris’ birthday, was shot with a smartphone in almost complete darkness using Astrophotography mode. Each four-minute take results in one second of footage which were then looped and edited together. Throughout the process, we learned that the act of keeping our heads as still as possible for four silent minutes in the dark while very slowly and deliberately moving our limbs is more unnerving than meditative.”
Check out the video below, and expect Further Afield to arrive May 31 via Ernest Jenning Recording Co. You can pre-order the record here.
