When Adam MacGregor (Brown Angel, ex-Conelrad, ex-Creation is Crucifixion) left the U.S. with his internationally employed partner for points east in 2012, his band Brown Angel dissolved in the wake (thankfully, only temporarily, but that’s another story). Left without a primary musical project for the first time in years, MacGregor launched Soft Corner as an outlet for deeply introspective songs based on ideas deemed “too melodic” for his other projects. Tracked over the course of eight years in extended-stay residences, hotels, living rooms and storage facilities from Pittsburgh, PA to Quito, Ecuador, to MacGregor’s current home in Mumbai, India, Soft Corner’s forthcoming self-titled release serves a mesmerizing mix of dream-pop, post-metal/post-punk and 1990s indie rock. MacGregor reins in his usual gnarled, dissonant riffing in favor of drop-tuned, shimmering washes of guitar and analog synthesizer, underpinned by a lava flow of distorted bass and pummeling rhythms constructed from drum samples of several favorite collaborators. Slow, low, yet occasionally buoyant, Soft Corner casts a sepia-filtered light on loss, depression, fear of change, homesickness, and childhood reminiscence. Trace elements of Sugar/Husker Du, Warning/40 Watt Sun, Codeine and even Van Halen drift throughout the six-song full-length, to be released November 6, 2020 on MacGregor’s own Lost Tundra Recordings imprint in digital and limited-edition cassette formats.
credits
released November 6, 2020
Soft Corner
A:
Everlasting Drain
Marine Layer
Spridel
B:
I Don’t Want to be Anywhere Near It
Patterns of Pursuit
Summiting Ennui
Adam MacGregor: guitars, vocals, bass, synthesizers, drum sequencing, editing
with
Jairan Sadeghi: vocals, “I Don’t Want to be Anywhere Near It”
Special thanks to John Roman, Michael Laughlin and David Kuzy for providing drum samples.
Cover image from “Thin Film Experiments” by Mahesh Bandi, Ph.D. Inlay photo by Adam MacGregor.
"Spridel" originally performed by Gription (Matt Jencik, Tim Williams, Dave Kasparek), 1993.
Composed, recorded, and mixed by Adam MacGregor, August 2012 – April 2020 at Lost Tundra Perpetual Mobile in: Falls Church, VA; Beijing, China; Pittsburgh, PA; Agra, India; Quito, Ecuador; Mumbai, India.
Mix consultant: Steve Moore
Mastered August 2020 by Sujeesh Prabhu.
"Marine Layer" is dedicated with love to Andrew MacGregor.
Thank you: Amy, John, Mike, Stephen, Jeff, Michael, Jeff G., Sujeesh, Georgie, J. Plotkin
All titles except “Spridel”, Adam MacGregor (BMI), and “I Don’t Want to Be Anywhere Near It”, MacGregor/Sadeghi.
Initiated in late 2012, Soft Corner is Adam MacGregor (Brown Angel, Conelrad, Orlop, Creation is Crucifixion, torus).
Conceived as an outlet for melodic, song-oriented material, Soft Corner exists currently as a recording project though performances may come to pass someday....more
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