Brooklyn noise trio A Very Special Episode are putting their own spinning on a sentiment once posed by H.G. Wells, “adapt or perish,” on their debut, full-length LP, FIX YOU HEARTS OR DIE.
The band cite influences like Sonic Youth, Japanese Breakfast, and The Royal They, existing somewhere between a bombastic, electricity-infused energy of shredding guitar and lighting the drum set on fire and a more subdued,”I can’t go out tonight, I’m journaling” vibe.
A Very Special Episode’s primary vocalist and bassist Kasey Heisler says the album is a cautionary warning about hardening your hearts to people and ideas that you have yet to understand. Guitarist Patrick Porter adds that running away from self-reflection and introspection can quickly put someone on the fast-track to bitterness and defensiveness, which becomes all the more mentally damaging.
Ultimately, the band invites returning listeners and new arrivals alike to check out the album and absorb it in whatever way best resonates, whether they relate more to the music itself, or the lyrics and themes explored within the 11 tracks.
The album is a long-time coming, given the COVID-19 pandemic and the delays that came with, allowing the band to further hone in on their sound. A Very Special Episode open up about the new album and being able to finally release it.
“FIX YOUR HEARTS OR DIE has been a long time coming, and we are so grateful to finally release it. Like so many other bands, we were sitting on a nearly complete record when we entered lockdown and had to completely shift our plans overnight. We finished recording and mixed the album in our apartment during our time of isolation, filmed music videos within those same walls, and got to know the whole album better than we did before.
“Almost all of the music has existed in some form or another for the past few years; they’re the first songs we’ve ever written with Chayse, our drummer since 2018, and we toured almost exclusively on this material on our summer 2019 tour when we hoped to debut these tracks in recorded form in quick succession.
“These songs are incredibly special to us and are a solid expression of both who we are and where we want to go. A certain part of us may feel a desire to sit with them even longer, but the time has come to finally unleash this monster into the world—ready or not!”
The album is out October 12, but you can listen to FIX YOUR HEARTS OR DIE in full right now:
