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King Buffalo Post “Silverfish” Video From The Burden of Restlessness

Posted in Bootleg Theater on May 28th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

king buffalo (Photo by Mike Turzanski)

We’re inching inexorably closer to the June 4 release of King Buffalo‘s third album, The Burden of Restlessness (review here). “Silverfish” is the second and likely final single to come ahead of the record itself, and it brings out some of the moodier atmospherics that perpetuate throughout the release, the feeling of internalizing covid-era isolation as a state of being, almost Kafka-esque in the lyric complementing its multi-legged tension of riff. It’s short at under three minutes, and of course in the video you don’t get a sense of how it ties into the songs around it, either “Locusts” before or “Grifter” after — both also documents of the time of their making and emblematic of the album’s overall progressive crux.

But still, it’s another slice of the whole, and all the more satisfying with the visual effects in Mike Turzanski‘s accompanying video here, turning the cracks duly inward while also emphasizing the interpersonal connection between players in the band perhaps as a means of reaching out from one human being to another. As the band has announced their first round of touring for 2021 — and there are more dates to come — and news to be told of the second of their three intended albums for 2020, things would seem to be proceeding according to plan for King Buffalo, which, you know, is nice that it’s going that way for anybody at this point.

Is The Burden of Restlessness album of the year? I won’t pretend to know. I’ve got two more King Buffalo LPs to listen to before I’ll be willing to make that determination, let alone anything anyone else puts out. You know I keep a running list though, and it’s certainly right on there. We’ll see how the rest of 2021 shakes out.

Enjoy the video:

King Buffalo, “Silverfish” official video

From the new album, ‘The Burden of Restlessness’ available June 4th. Pre-order now: https://kingbuffalo.com/get-it-now

Directed by Mike Turzanski

The Burden of Restlessness was written and recorded by King Buffalo in Rochester, NY at the Main Street Armory in December of 2020 & January 2021. Produced, engineered & mixed by Sean McVay, and mastered by Bernie Matthews. The artwork was created by Zdzislaw Beksinski with cover fonts by Mike Turzanski and album layout by Scott Donaldson.

2021 Tour Dates (Tickets on sale NOW at kingbuffalo.com)
9/10 Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
9/11 Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
9/14 Los Angeles, CA @ Moroccan Lounge
9/15 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
9/17 Seattle, WA @ Barboza
9/18 Vancouver, BC @ Fox Cabaret
9/19 Portland, OR @ Lola’s Room
11/5 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
11/6 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
11/11 Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Café
11/12 Detroit, MI @ Loving Touch
11/13 Indianapolis, IN @ HI-FI
11/14 St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway
11/16 Madison, WI @ The Bur Oak
11/17 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry
11/18 Milwaukee, WI @ Colectivo
11/19 Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
11/20 Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom

King Buffalo is:
Sean McVay – Guitar, Vocals, & Synth
Dan Reynolds – Bass & Synth
Scott Donaldson – Drums & Percussion

King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (2021)

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Album Review: King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness

Posted in Reviews on May 11th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

king buffalo the burden of restlessness

From the time Rochester, New York, trio King Buffalo announced in March that they’d be releasing three full-lengths over the course of the next 12 months — #3recordsin2021; a challenge as much about logistics in pressing and distributing schedules, if not more so, as about recording the material itself — with each one recorded in a different circumstance, anticipation has justly run high. The first of them, which is both part-one-of-three and the band’s third standalone long-player in its own right — a pivotal arrival for any act — is The Burden of Restlessness, which collects seven tracks across 40 minutes of existence plainly derailed. That is to say, had 2020 not played out as it did in times of pandemic and sociopolitical unrest, King Buffalo‘s third LP would invariably be a much different outing.

The Burden of Restlessness captures the tension of paranoia and fear in its sharp guitar chugs, the notion of things going wrong but proceeding apace in its odd time signatures, churning and roiling grooves and the melancholy and languishing brought on by lockdown and lack of direction in its lyrics, as well as the inward and outward frustration brought on by the decaying of American political norms, the country nearly confronting its troubled history with racism in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the ensuing protests, as well as the right wing anti-progress cacophony that eventually manifested in the (arguably successful) terrorist putsch on the US Capitol in January.

These things are real and brought to life throughout The Burden of Restlessness, which tightens some of the more open, jammier spirit King Buffalo has brought to bear across prior releases — they put out an EP, Dead Star (review here), last year to coincide with subsequently canceled tours; Live at Freak Valley (review here) followed months later, presenting their 2019 set at the German festival of the same name, then supporting their 2018 sophomore album, Longing to Be the Mountain (review here) — into a concise progressive aggression, at times reminiscent of earlier Tool, as with some of the lead work on “Locusts” or the thudding culmination of the penultimate “The Knocks,” but one way or the other a streamlining of purpose and expression on the part of the band, as ever comprised of guitarist/vocalist Sean McVay, bassist Dan Reynolds and drummer Scott Donaldson.

While the overarching three-album storyline remains untold, there is nothing that feels incomplete about The Burden of Restlessness. The darker themes are telegraphed by the album cover courtesy of Zdzislaw Beksinski and the band — McVay also helmed the recording and mixed — extend the thoughtfulness of their presentation to the material, telling of confusion without becoming confused in the telling. The synths that came to prominence in Dead Star and seemed to foreshadow where King Buffalo might have been headed with their next long-player are shouldered out of the foreground by the intensity of “Burning,” as the album’s opening line, “I turn my head from the stars,” feels like a direct and willful contrast to the title-track of their debut, 2016’s Orion (review here), which began with the call to the constellation, “Orion can you hear me?” The ensuing chorus, “Another year lost in the wasteland/Another day drowns in dust/Another one dead in the wasteland,” picks apart the passage of time in pandemic quarantine, familiar surroundings made ominous with a looming specter of death outside. Perhaps it’s a processing of trauma happening throughout The Burden of Restlessness, but the perspective is individual.

King Buffalo

On a thematic level, King Buffalo are no strangers to lonelier or more depressive fare, but as the third verse of “Hebetation” finds McVay narrating, “Every night I close my eyes/I lie awake and try to pacify a listless mind/Nothing’s changed at 35/Still every night I dream a million different ways for me to die,” and the later “Silverfish” talks of “slithering away, from everything, and everyone,” the images are striking and real. In terms of point of view, the metaphor-laced approach holds consistent in what might be considered the more outward-facing “Locusts” and “Grifter,” which seem to speak to police brutality — “Hand of the shield/Suppressing the field” — and the cult of personality surrounding the American right wing’s descent into fascism — “He promises deliverance, day after day/Releasing only pestilence, and festering decay” — respectively.

The lyrics are essential here, of course, with McVay and Donaldson collaborating throughout, but it’s in the pairing of the final two tracks, “The Knocks” and “Loam,” that the full storyline of The Burden of Restlessness finds its self-contained resolution, regardless of what’s to come on King Buffalo‘s intended fourth and fifth long-players. “The Knocks” pushes as close to bottom as the band gets, “As I press my ear against the floor/A knocking beckons from the barricade on the door/I can hear it pounding more and more/Don’t think that I can take no more, don’t think I wanna live no more,” and “Loam” complements with an earned hopeful feeling, bringing the title-line in the context of, “I’m shedding the burden of restlessness/To rise from the loam of the nothingness,” the last lyrics and a far cry from the turning-eyes-from-the-sky setting out in “Burning.”

McVay in the position of producer/engineer is nothing new for King Buffalo, as he also helmed 2018’s Repeater EP (review here), Orion and Dead Star, but in addition to bringing lyrics into focus in new, pointed ways, The Burden of Restlessness is all the more complete for the manner in which the lyrics and instrumental progressions play off each other. To listen to Reynolds‘ bassline — he remains the secret weapon in King Buffalo‘s arsenal; low-key, keeping it all together as the drums push inextricably forward and the guitar stretches out — beneath the soaring lead of “Locusts,” or to chart the build of “The Knocks” or find the synth balanced into the midsection of “Loam” for melodic emphasis is to understand the individualized dynamic that King Buffalo have honed over the last seven years, and in encapsulating that as they have, The Burden of Restlessness fulfills its apparent promise in portraying the troubled time of its creation.

It is both a culmination of horrors and the initial steps beyond them, and the turn it makes in sound is no less full than anything they’ve done before; they are adjusting the balance of elements that have worked in their favor all along. I at this point have precious little insight as to how The Burden of Restlessness will play into the next King Buffalo full-length, or if it is intended to at all. Will that album pick up from this one, move into a different aspect of their style, readjust the balance again, and so on? Unknown. But not knowing doesn’t make the band’s overarching project any less exciting, and in making them a less predictable outfit as it does, The Burden of Restlessness can only be considered a success. It not only realizes a bridge between progressive heavy rock and psychedelia in a manner that is their own, but perhaps serves just as an initial stretch in an even wider blossoming of sound and craft. No matter what the next one or the one after brings, The Burden of Restlessness is one of 2021’s best and a fittingly otherworldly document of this surreal era.

King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (2021)

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King Buffalo to Release The Burden of Restlessness June 4; Preorders Available & Song Streaming; Tour Announced

Posted in Whathaveyou on March 30th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

King Buffalo

Rochester, New York, heavy psych trio King Buffalo take on the darker side of quarantine with The Burden of Restlessness, their third LP, set to release on June 4. Their most progressive album rhythmically is also their more aggressive thematically, and the album’s tracks do a damn fine job of living up to the album’s name. If you happened to be alive last Spring, you probably felt some of that burden yourself. Or you actually got sick, which as I understand it was worse.

Not that the pandemic is over, mind you.

As discussed in the recent interview with drummer Scott DonaldsonThe Burden of Restlessness will serve as one of three full-lengths King Buffalo will issue in 2021/early 2022, with the next one to be recorded next month. I’ll have more on that to come. In the meantime, preorders are up for The Burden of Restlessness, which will be released through the band in the US and through Stickman Records in Europe. And hey, they’ve got tour dates! Will they happen? Maybe!

As per the PR wire:

king buffalo the burden of restlessness

KING BUFFALO RELEASE THIRD RECORD, THE BURDEN OF RESTLESSNESS, ON JUNE 4TH & ANNOUNCE TOUR DATES

Preorder: kingbuffalo.bigcartel.com

King Buffalo’s third full-length record, The Burden of Restlessness, will be released on June 4, 2021. The widely-hailed progressive heavy rock trio will have vinyl & CD preorders available on April 2, via kingbuffalo.bigcartel.com.

This the first of three full-lengths they will release throughout 2021.

REPEAT: THREE

Their most focused progressive offering to-date, The Burden of Restlessness will self-release throughout North America and see European issue via Stickman Records.

Self-recorded in late 2020 and early 2021 by guitarist/vocalist Sean McVay, bassist Dan Reynolds and drummer Scott Donaldson, The Burden of Restlessness continues to push King Buffalo’s progressive aspects forward into new avenues of melody and exploration.

At the same time, it is not mistitled. There are deep undercurrents of frustration and even an aggressive pulse that coincide with the spaciousness for which the band has been so widely lauded since their 2016 debut, Orion. Guitarist/vocalist Sean McVay drops what’s bound to become one of the record’s signature lyrics in opener “Burning” when he declares, “Another year lost in the wasteland,” and more succinct summaries of canceled plans and rescheduled, lost or damaged lives are hard to come by.

“The Burden of Restlessness was written over the course of what most would consider a pretty stark and stressful time period. The end result is our darkest, most aggressive, and most intimate work to date. We are extremely proud of what this record became.” – Sean McVay

Followers of King Buffalo will find the band’s time was not at all wasted. While some of the synthesizer-driven elements of early-2020’s Dead Star EP have been stripped back, the rhythmic complexity in The Burden of Restlessness is yet more new ground the band are claiming as their own. They do so with confidence and a creative depth of atmosphere that comes through in more than just the effects being used, and the urgency in their material is unmistakable.

“Since Covid stopped all touring, we’ve been hard at work and made the commitment to not waste the opportunity. We’re excited to share the first of three records of 2021, which has expanded our sound in a lot of different ways. We hope you enjoy it and we look forward to eventually playing these songs live.” – Scott Donaldson

The Burden of Restlessness was written and recorded by King Buffalo in Rochester, NY at the Main Street Armory in December of 2020 & January 2021. Produced, engineered & mixed by Sean McVay, and mastered by Bernie Matthews. The artwork was created by Zdzis?aw Beksi?ski with cover fonts by Mike Turzanski and album layout by Scott Donaldson.

The Burden of Restlessness Tracklist:
1. Burning
2. Hebetation
3. Locusts
4. Silverfish
5. Grifter
6. The Knocks
7. Loam

2021 Tour Dates (Tickets on sale NOW at kingbuffalo.com)
9/10 Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
9/11 Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
9/14 Los Angeles, CA @ Moroccan Lounge
9/15 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
9/17 Seattle, WA @ Barboza
9/18 Vancouver, BC @ Fox Cabaret
9/19 Portland, OR @ Lola’s Room
11/5 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
11/6 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
11/11 Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Café
11/12 Detroit, MI @ Loving Touch
11/13 Indianapolis, IN @ HI-FI
11/14 St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway
11/16 Madison, WI @ The Bur Oak
11/17 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry
11/18 Milwaukee, WI @ Colectivo
11/19 Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
11/20 Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom

King Buffalo is:
Sean McVay – Guitar, Vocals, & Synth
Dan Reynolds – Bass & Synth
Scott Donaldson – Drums & Percussion

kingbuffalo.com
facebook.com/kingbuffaloband
instagram.com/kingbuffaloband
kingbuffalo.bandcamp.com
stickman-records.com
facebook.com/Stickman-Records-1522369868033940

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