Upper Wilds is the Brooklyn-based noise rock trio composed of Dan Friel (Parts & Labor), Jason Binnick and Jeff Ottenbacher. Today, they are announcing their fourth LP Mercury, which will be released on August 28 via Thrill Jockey. Embodying its namesake, Mercury is the trio’s fastest and most scorched-sounding album to date. Upper Wilds traverse an overheated world on their new album—battling skin cancer, climate change, capitalism and the inevitability of death. Along with the announcement, Upper Wilds share the title track, “Mercury,” inspired by Friel’s recent skin cancer surgery.
Dan Friel says of the track:
“I had some skin cancer removed from my face at the beginning of writing this album. It was early and easy and not shocking, but I do have a scar, and a selfie where you can see my cheek muscle. The situation of something that keeps us going (the sun) becoming the enemy resonated with so many things in this stage of my life (middle age) and this country. It works as a stand-in for the internet, drugs, capitalism, you name it, and the lyrics can speak for any of them:
Everything looks like fuel to a fire
Just can’t help but burn a little higher
Kept us warm but now it needs to feed
And I feel those flames come hunting after me
’til it all feels like Mercury”
Mercury was engineered by Travis Harrison (Guided By Voices, Built to Spill, Shop Talk) at Serious Business in DUMBO, Brooklyn. It features Jeff Tobias (Modern Nature, Sunwatchers) on electronic wind instrument (EWI) and saxophone; Erin Dawson of LA-based black metal band Genital Shame on backing screams; and NASA samples of solar wind. This is the fourth installment in Upper Wilds’ series of planet-themed records.
Listen to “Mercury” and stay tuned for news of a late summer/early fall tour throughout the US in support of the new record.
