Album Premiere: Forever Losing Sleep / David F. Bello Split
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In theory, a split between a post-emo band like Forever Losing Sleep and David F. Bello—frontman of the figureheads for blending emo and post-rock, The World is a Beautiful Place & I am No longer Afraid to Die—seems like an almost too-obvious pairing. However, given that TWIABP’s 2017 record Always Foreign drifted considerably from the grandiose climaxes that Forever Losing Sleep are still infatuated with, and Bello’s solo material sounds more like fleshed-out versions of his band’s “blank #” series than any of their rock songs, the two avoid redundancy and establish quite a complementary dynamic on this project.
Forever Losing Sleep’s seven-minute inclusion, “Circulating,” features an epic swell that surpasses the heaviest moments in TWIABP’s catalog, with clobbering drums and chugging guitars that’re more aligned with the soaring post-hardcore of City of Caterpillar. The other three tracks are Bello’s, beginning with the ambient “Again With It” and transitioning smoothly into the Burial-meets-Animal Collective “ASMR.” He travels even further into that direction with the Mount Kimbie-esque “Free,” which features chopped-up, auto-tuned vocals and wet, organ-like keystrokes. And despite FLS’s track boasting sleek production from Chris Teti (guitarist/producer for TWIABP), Bello’s self-recorded and self-mastered side sounds equally spacious.
For two artists coming from the same world, there’s a pleasantly diverse palette of sounds on this project. Stream all four tracks below:
Pre-orders for a physical edition will be available online via Cat Dad Cassettes on 1/25.
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Eli Enis | @eli_enis
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