Following a tumultuous several months of hardships and hard work, once again restructuring the band for the second time in a year, NYC’s THINNING THE HERD this week confirms the details of the band’s pending second full-length, Freedom From The Known.
Founding vocalist/guitarist Gavin Spielman had replaced the crew on TTH‘s 2011-released debut full-length, Oceans Rise, recruiting a new rhythm section in 2012 with bassist Wes Edmonds and drummer Rick Cimato (ex-Locked In A Vacancy). The ultra-solid new lineup honed the newest songs, and shipped out to Chicago last Summer to record the sophomore album Freedom From The Known at Electrical Audio Studios with studio guru Steven Albini. The trio filmed a new video for the album, and as they were preparing to release the best THINNING THE HERD material yet, Rick Cimato was tragically killed in a head-on collision over the 2012 holiday season.
Mourning the loss of their friend, Spielman and Edmonds hosted several local listening parties of the album for local fans and friends to honor Rick and his family, then started the process of bringing yet another lineup together to execute the new songs live, proudly, as Cimato would have wished. Spielman recently crossed paths with Brooklyn drummer Garth Macaleavey, and after hitting it off, brought Garth into the THINNING THE HERD camp.
With nearly forty-five minutes of brand new material, the varied Freedom From The Known continues the THINNING THE HERD tradition of avoiding genre pigeonholing, merging their blues, jam, sludge and NYHC influences into their expansive doom/rock foundation. Lyrically the band explores as wide an array of topics; surviving everyday life, achieving a higher consciousness through transcendentalism, the existence of alien and otherworldly life forms and more. This is where party-hard buildups melt into boundary-free jam sessions; THINNING THE HERD is the pinnacle of prime underground New York City rock. Freedom From The Known will finally be released on the band’s own Saint Marks Records, just as their previous EP and Oceans Rise full-length were, on May 9th, 2013.
Live THINNING THE HERD shows and regional tour plans are in the works for the immediate future, and will be announced in the coming days and through the Summer months in support of Freedom From The Known; stay tuned.
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