A lot has happened for Yosef “King Yosef” Pelletier since 2023’s An Underlying Hum was echoed through our speakers. Pelletier noted how “it’s almost hard to articulate everything that’s taken place” within this two-year run. Now we are being ushered into a new era of Pelletier’s world-building with his new full-length LP Spire Of Fear released via Bleakhouse Records. Traversing through its humid, musty, earthy soundscapes, Spire Of Fear isn’t a place to fear, rather be embraced.
Pelletier’s journey that started back in 2017 has given him a vast amount of room for experimentation of his sound and growth as an individual. He’s been creatively stretched, broken, and rebuilding himself with each effort put forth. A steppingstone in the journey of Pelletier that he found a challenge to step onto along the way from then to now was “understanding how to lay the groundwork for longevity so I can keep doing this is the thing that almost broke me, but I am eternally grateful for.” He continued with how “I have made a conscious decision to push myself as to not be a one trick artist for the rest of my days and hopefully build a web of things people expect and support me doing.”
Whether it’s the wailing analog tones, the haunted riffs, or the thunderous drum crashes, this LP feels like its pulling from a deeper, darker well. Pelletier’s sonic fingerprint is still there, but something has shifted, and he mentioned how “I think a huge part of it is experience.”
“I gave myself a deadline with this album and started writing in June 2024. By November 2024, I was recording 15 songs with Kurt and Zach at Godcity. So, in order to get to that point, I had to trust myself and not be so attached to the revisions and over analysis that was a part of the AUH process. It relies on instinct more than rigorous thinking now and I think the project reflects in the way the songs move”, explained Pelletier.
Spire Of Fear sounds like a monument of something internal, something rising and impossible to ignore. Pelletier described the title as “with AUH being about the past and sorting through things that already happened, I looked forward and realized the future is much more terrifying than the past because you don’t know what happens. The Spire Of Fear to me is kneeling at the altar of what’s coming towards you and instead of hiding, you accept it and walk through.”
Pelletier has called this LP a “community-based record.” Community pulses through everything he creates with his deep DIY roots. The ethos of community in the core of Spire Of Fear was a guiding force and a silent collaborator. Pelletier noted how “friends were around while I wrote and recorded a lot of this album more than ever before so having people to participate in the process and be open was a sort of therapeutic process. Being in the studio, writing about the future and all the sudden you’re two hours into a conversation about your friend’s fears of the same future. It all played into the process.”
With Spire Of Fear being carved from bone and lit by fire there’s a weight that suggests real struggle. A storm that Pelletier weathered in the making of the LP was “making a record I felt actually represented me as I am now. AUH took years so the reason for the deadline with Spire is directly to have a time capsule…ultimately, I think the weight comes less from a struggle or fight but more from authentic the motions were lining up as this was recorded. The vocal takes weren’t rushed; we would wait for the exact right moment after a long conversation to get it. I would write and write, have someone like Kellbender & Toxic at my house and after conversations about something heavy, we would just write, and things came out as they were meant to be.”
Now that Spire Of Fear is no longer solely in Pelletiers possession, listeners have had their time to digest and sit with the LP. There’s a message that goes deeper than sound, but in the gut, in places words and drums don’t quite reach. Pelletier said how he hopes listeners “can feel the journey I took with it because that’s exactly the way the tracklist plays out. I also hope people take away that what King Yosef is, is by design and not by accident.”
Spire of Fear is out now, and you can order it from Bleakhouse Records. Follow King Yosef on Instagram for future updates.
Photo Credit: Senny Mau
