Rapidly Aging Premiere “The Negative Thought Loops”; You’re Not Yourself Lately Out Oct. 2
You’re Not Yourself Lately, the first full-length from Atlanta-based post-heavy solo-outfit Rapidly Aging, will be released on Oct. 2 through Fig on Wrist. The band is a project from Shalor Howell, also of Canopy, and nestles itself quickly into an atmospheric melancholia that’s post-metallic in its flow and construction but, in listening through the 40-minute/seven-track procession front to back, really more like if being sad was a genre.
Howell handles guitar (plus slide), bass, and brings in Matt Hendler on drums and Ethan Fogus to complement the guitar effects with lap steel and violin, and the only vocals are samples of Shelley Duvall from the English overdub of the 1974 film The Man Who Sleeps, originally in French. Duvall‘s narration threads from the intro “Distant Sirens Wailing” through “Fleeting Moment” and across the whole release, taking the place of vocals and adding emotive context to the evocations of the otherwise-instrumentals; the movie is about a guy who drops out of life at 25 years old, seemingly to focus on manifesting despondency. Been there.
Against this backdrop, Howell enacts a fluid procession of duly contemplative post-heavy that is, it should be noted, no less heavy than it is post-. Tonally dense and slow, it leaves space for the narration in quiet passages and at times swallows the voice as well, as at the beginning of “The Negative Thought Loops” (premiering below), and the interaction between the two proves dynamic throughout. The lap steel guitar comes in in “The Negative Thought Loops,” and takes its place in a mix already rife with effects and spacious sounds, adding a sense of wistfulness as one would expect, the song’s depressive crux finishing with backward sounds as it leads directly into “Awoken From a Bad Dream to an Even Worse Reality,” the longest inclusion at 7:58.
“Awoken Form a Bad Dream to an Even Worse Reality” gradually makes its way toward and through a mountainous groove and into a comedown like airy aughts-era Neurosis, Duvall topping the midsentence transition into “How Quickly the Ground Falls Out Beneath You,” shorter and grungeier in the guitar, reversing the structure of the song before to a degree by shifting in its second half to a weightier nod and bringing in the narration — “You just want to wait and forget” — in time to mark the change to the penultimate “Unsaved.” The initial strum opens soon to a roll that feels like You’re Not Yourself Lately‘s “Stones From the Sky” moment, and well enough earned in terms of heft and flow, but most of the second half is about texture after the drums drop out and the effects stretch, leading to Duvall‘s eventual return to shift into closer “To Keep From.”
The sense of something incomplete feels purposeful in the title of the finale, but the song itself isn’t. It builds to a crescendo less forceful than that of “Unsaved” at its heaviest, but that is less about contrast than some of the songs before it. There are changes, of course, but it builds, peaks, and recedes in a way that is more self-contained than some of the other material, which interacts with itself in the transitions and voiceovers and so on. As one might expect, the last word goes to Duvall, whose voice is slowed, echoing and feels like it’s letting go of consciousness at the end, which is fair enough for the film in question.
Howell, as Rapidly Aging, is effective in building a world with and in these songs, and if the project continues, one can’t help but wonder where the exploration underway here might lead. You’re Not Yourself Lately is obviously meant to be taken as a whole, and it works best that way, but release dates and blah blah. The clip below for “The Negative Thought Loops,” however, is enough to give a general idea of what Howell is going for in terms of process and both tonal and ambient weight. You’ll find it on the player below, followed by more from the PR wire, and, at the bottom, The Man Who Sleeps, the film from which the narration comes.
Please enjoy:
Rapidly Aging, “The Negative Thought Loops” track premiere
Rapidly Aging is a solo exercise in space, ambience, and emotion by Atlanta, GA based composer and multi-instrumentalist Shalor Howell. Channeling everything from the smoothed out soundscapes and textures of Brian Eno to the crushing weight of post metal á la Pelican or Mogwai – Howell has a knack for pulling his punches and rewarding the patient listener with the sonic equivalent of an epic film mid crescendo.
Rapidly Aging was bore from a rare break in the traditional creative process of sole member and composer, Shalor Howell. His primary band, the Atlanta, Ga sludge titans Canopy were on pause – which gave way for Howell to birth his longtime passion project; the result of which is the esoteric and powerful You’re Not Yourself Lately. The listener is treated to a 40 minute showcase of Howell’s mastery of all things “post”, weaving through cinematic soundscapes and crushing riffs alike.
Originally conceived in 2025, the songs were slowly compiled at home as a sort of unofficial soundtrack to the film The Man Who Sleeps (Perec, 1974), with samples providing the de-facto narrative to the otherwise instrumental affair. The final studio versions were eventually recorded at Meadowlark studios (Atlanta, GA) by Greg Hendler with the help of session musicians Matt Hendler (drums) and Ethan Fogus (lap steel guitar, violin).
Tracklist:
1. Distant Sirens Wailing (2:41)
2. Fleeting Moment (5:47)
3. The Negative Thought Loops (4:20)
4. Awoken From A Bad Dream To An Even Worse Reality (7:58)
5. How Quickly The Ground Falls Out Beneath You (5:13)
6. Unsaved (6:46)
7. To Keep From (7:48)
Album credits:
– Music by Shalor Howell
– Guitar, Slide Guitar & Bass performed by Shalor Howell
– Drums performed by Matt Hendler
– Pedal Steel Guitar & Violin performed by Ethan Fogus
– Engineered & Mastered by Greg Hendler at Meadowlark Studios
– Art By Michael Ray Marks
– Photography by Jessica Howell
– Layout / Design by AP Lewis / Fig on Wrist
– All samples taken from The Man Who Sleeps (1974)
Rapidly Aging is Shalor Howell
