Doom experimentalists Thou have announced that they've pulled new music out of themselves — and themselves alone — for the first time in a few years. Following semi-recent collabs with Emma Ruth Rundle, the Body and Mizmor, the next proper Thou album is called Umbilical.
The LP, which will arrive May 31st via Sacred Bones, is Thou's first full-length collection of original, non-collaborative work since 2018's Magus. The 10-song collection is being teased by the awesomely acrid, oddly galloping first single "I Feel Nothing When You Cry," a bleakly titled piece that sits midway through an album said to be about "exploring what it means to exist within and without a rigid morality."
"Clearly, the 'Thou' experiment is never going to appeal to audiences who demand that art rigorously enforce a coherent and righteous worldview," the group explained in a statement of their creative and philosophical choices.
The band added: "This record is for the radicals, the crackpots, the exiles who have escaped the wasteland of capitulation. This record is for the militants and zealots refusing to surrender to comforts, to practicalities, to thirty pieces of silver. And this record is most especially for the weaklings and malingerers, burdened by capricious indulgence, hunched by the deep wounds of compromise, shuffling in limp approximation, desperately reaching back towards integrity and conviction."
In addition to the new LP, Thou are booked for a handful of U.S. dates, and have a trip to Australia and New Zealand lined up with Full of Hell this summer.
Thou 2024 tour dates:
4/13 New Orleans, LA - Palestine Benefit at Fred Hampton Free Store
5/4 Providence, RI - AS220
7/28 New Orleans, LA - The Broadside ^
9/13-15 Richmond, VA - Persistent Vision Fest
8/14 Brisbane, AU - The Zoo - *
8/15 Sydney, AU - Mary's Underground *
8/16 Canberra, AU - The Baso *
8/17 Melbourne, AU - Stay Gold *
8/18 Adelaide, AU - Crown & Anchor *
8/23 Christchurch, NZ - Rolling Stone *
8/24 Wellington, NZ - Meow *
8/25 Auckland, NZ - Galatos *
^ with The Body + Dis Fig, Nail Club
* with Full of Hell
Umbilical tracklisting:
Narcissist's Prayer
Emotional Terrorist
Lonely Vigil
House of Ideas
I Feel Nothing When You Cry
Unbidden Guest
I Return as Chained and Bound to You
The Promise
Panic Stricken, I Flee
Siege Perilous
