14 years and seven albums into their career, Kylesa keep on evolving. Starting out as crust punk, morphing into more of a sludge metal sound, and finally expanding into a psychedelic heavy rock sound they can truly call their own, the Savannah, Georgia band have come into their own ever since the release of the revelatory Static Tensions album in 2009.
Their forthcoming album Exhausting Fire continues Kylesa’s ongoing attempt to bridge aggression and contemplative melody. The band has always been about the dynamic between guitarists/singers Phillip Cope and Laura Pleasants, and that push-and-pull is on full display on the lead single “Lost and Confused”. Pleasants’ dreamy singing is juxtaposed with some of the band’s heaviest riffs in years, making the song airy and primal at the same time. In addition, drummer Carl McGinley recorded the band’s trademark dual drums himself, but fret not, fans, a second drummer will be added in time for their upcoming tour.
“I think with [2013’s] Ultraviolet we got too far into doing what we wanted and forgot that Kylesa is, at heart, a heavy band,” Pleasants says in the press release. “That’s one thing I had to keep in mind because I am interested in different kinds of music and writing differently. With this one, I wanted to write heavy riffs, the kind I hadn’t written in a while, and see where that took us.”
Exhausting Fire will be released 2 October on Season of Mist.
Catch Kylesa on the road this fall:
August 29th – Durham, NC – Motorco
August 31st – Charlottesville, VA – The Southern
September 1st – New York, NY – Gramercy #
September 2nd – Montreal, QC – Case Campus #
September 3rd – Toronto, ON – Mod Club #
September 4th – Chicago, IL – Reggie’s #
September 5th – St. Louis, MO – Ready Room
September 6th – Louisville, KY – Zanzabar
September 7th – Augusta, GA – Sky City
October 6th – St. Petersburg, FL – State Theatre *
October 7th – Miami, FL – Grand Central *
October 8th – Orlando, FL – The Social *
October 9th – Savannah, GA – Jinx *
October 10th – Asheville, NC – New Mountain *
October 13th – Columbus, OH – The Basement *
October 14th – Grand Rapids, MI – Pyramid Scheme *
October 16th – Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop *
October 17th – Pittsburgh, PA – Altar Bar *
October 19th – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall *
October 20th – Philadelphia, PA – Black Box at Underground Arts *
October 23rd – Richmond, VA – The Broadberry *
October 24th – Washington, DC – Rock & Roll Hotel *
October 25th – Atlanta, GA – Drunken Unicorn *
November 6th – Pomona, CA – Glass House ^
November 7th – Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda Theatre ^
November 8th – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore ^
November 10th – San Diego, CA – Irenic ^
November 11th – Mesa, AZ – Club Red ^
November 13th – Austin, TX – Red 7 ^
November 14th – Houston, TX – Warehouse Live ^
November 15th – Dallas, TX – The Prophet Bar ^
November 17th – Colorado Springs, CO – The Black Sheep ^
November 18th – Denver, CO – The Summit Music Hall ^
November 19th – Salt Lake City, UT – The Complex ^
November 20th – Boise, ID – Neurolux ^
November 21st – Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theatre ^
November 22nd – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile ^
# co-headline dates with Cult Of Luna
* w/ Inter Arma, Indian Handcrafts, Irata supporting
^ w/ Fall of Troy, Powwers