The Forms - s/t

It's been 4 and a half years since we last heard from Brooklyn band The Forms. In 2003 the band released their first album Icarus and their new s/t disc which comes out 10/23 on their own label, Threespheres, is the first official release in the subsequent 4 years. Icarus generated a decent amount of buzz at the time of it's release. It got a really good review on Pitchfork and the weird sequencing of the album got a lot of mention as well (the album has 7 songs spread over ten tracks, the first 3 songs are each split into two tracks with identical titles which flow seamlessly into each other). Over the past few years the band had seemingly dropped off the face of the earth. Then in March they were suddenly and unexpectedly all over Austin for SXSW. Rumors circulated of a new album in the works, and in a strange bit of weird unexpected Internet promotion Steve Albini (who produced both albums) talked the band up quite a bit in his impromptu Q&A on, of all places, the 2+2 poker forums. All of Albini's talk of the band led to a renewed interest in their work and what they were up to. Well, this new album is what they've been up to and it's pretty cool. The Forms doesn't break any new ground, but it didn't need to. I hear in this album, many of the same things that made Icarus a personal favorite when it was released, but the sound is, to use a rock and roll cliche, more mature than before. The Forms aren't afraid to take their time with things this time through. The pace seems less frenetic and the band seems confident in their sound and direction. I see good things for them in the future. Only one tour date currently and it's in NYC but hopefully we'll get a chance to check the band out soon enough.

The Forms - Red Gun (from The Forms)

Pre-order The Forms here (eventually, I would think anyway)