We make no secret of the fact we love LVL UP and their various offshoots (ie. Trace Mountains, M Caridi and The Glow). So as you might imagine we’re delighted that the New York band (that’s Mike Caridi, Dave Benton, Nick Corbo and Greg Rutkin) have signed to Sub Pop to release a brand new album, Return to Love.
Produced by regular collaborator Mike Ditrio, the album is said to draw upon the varying inspirations of the band members, from Caridi’s passion for personal storytelling and Benton’s appreciation of documentary maker Astra Taylor to Corbo’s interest in the occult and other such mysterious things.
Luckily the band have released a single to keep us occupied until the September release. ‘Pain’ is a track about being hurt in the past, and how such things can follow us into the present and beyond. The details of the past trauma are left vague but scathing lyrics indirectly paint a picture of great suffering, the narrator trying to help the victim wrestle their psychological demons while cursing the person who caused their manifestation (“Your innocence was taken from you / Behind closed doors / By one you trusted,”). LVL UP’s trademark buoyancy remains in the instrumentation, not so much juxtaposed against the lyrics but rather helping to support their weight, the musical equivalent of all those uplifting promises and mini-epiphanies that are made and exchanged between people desperate to recover.
“Where is the one you love
who loved you unconditionally
and who you need?
Will you forget or will you repress?
The demons run rampant in your head
and white noise puts you to sleep”
Return to Love will be released on the 23rd September and you can pre-order in now on a variety of formats from Sub Pop or the LVL UP Bandcamp page.
Photo by Shawn Brackbill