Juno award-winning metallic noise rock band KEN mode will release their eagerly awaited seventh studio album Loved on August 31, 2018 through New Damage Records in Canada. Today, the band has partnered with Revolver to premiere the music video for lead track “Doesn’t Feel Pain Like He Should”. The album is now available for pre-order HERE. Fans who pre-order the album digitally will receive the lead single as an instant grat track.
Says guitarist/vocalist Jesse Matthewson on their latest offering, “This song is a not so subtle opening for our thoughts on 2018. To what degree the world will interpret parody, satire, and bleeding-heart honesty, is ultimately beyond our control. We’ve made a work, with a harsh degree of urgency, that made us feel something while dancing effortlessly within these blurred lines.”
Loved, which follows KEN mode’s critically acclaimed and Juno nominated 2015 release Success, represents yet another pivot point in the group’s sound. Moving away from the indie/noise, punk focused tracks on Success, Loved sees the band delving deeper and darker than ever before, resulting in what may be the group’s quintessential statement of violence and despair made sonic.
Drawing from not only the desperate noise and industrial sonics of the 80’s and 90’s, on Loved, KEN mode has mixed in the decidedly more extreme tone and presence of death and black metal, expertly captured by producer Andrew Schneider’s (Unsane, Cave In, Daughters) sick vision of noise and girth. “We entered writing for this album with one goal in mind – to please the smile”, states Matthewson, referring to the album cover piece by the band’s long-time collaborator Randy Ortiz – see below.
Jesse continues, “We wanted to make an album that represented a thinking person’s reaction to the political/technological climate we are existing in today. We wanted to make the perfect album to put on repeat while pushing your physical limits to their maximum, if only to silence the noise that is constantly whirring around inside of your own head, even for a brief moment. We wanted tones that bash and cut, and for you to feel that desperate part of yourself clawing for a way out. And then, just when things are at their most bleak, you start to focus on what’s actually being said, and you’ll see the humour in absolutely everything that is transpiring before you. THAT is Loved.”
Loved Track listing:
- Doesn’t Feel Pain Like He Should – VIDEO
- The Illusion of Dignity
- Feathers & Lips
- Learning To Be Too Cold
- Not Soulmates
- Very Small Men
- This is a Love Test
- Fractures in Adults
- No Gentle Art
Formed in 1999, in Winnipeg, MB, KEN mode cut their teeth in the early aughts with a pair of records 2003’s Mongrel and 2006’s Reprisal. The group would find breakout underground notoriety with their JUNO award winning album, 2011’s Kurt Ballou (Converge, High on Fire, Code Orange) produced Venerable. This marked a decided shift for the band, embarking on an unrelenting touring schedule for the following 5 years with such acts as Russian Circles, Torche, Deafheaven, Norma Jean, Kylesa, Pelican, Daughters, Revocation, and Today is the Day; releasing two additional full lengths – 2013’s Matt Bayles (Mastodon, Isis) produced Entrench and 2015’s Steve Albini (Nirvana, the Jesus Lizard) produced Success (both JUNO nominated and highly critically acclaimed); seeing them hit a multitude of major festivals like SXSW, Hellfest Open Air, CMJ Festival, Pitchfork Festival Chicago, Hopscotch Festival, and Roadburn Festival; and doing live sessions for renowned institutions such as BBC Radio 1 and Daytrotter.
But burnout was inevitable, and in 2016 the band took a step back to regroup: core members, Shane and Jesse, formed their own music business management services company, MKM Management Services, while bassist Scott Hamilton released records with his other bands Adolyne and Greylight District. In 2017 the band began writing with a newfound focus and desire, in the most collaborative effort they have ever put together.
KEN mode is comprised of Jesse Matthewson (Guitar, Piano, Vocals), Shane Matthewson (Drums) and bassist Scott Hamilton
