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Perseids

by somesurprises

/
  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Experience Perseids in its warmest form on classic black vinyl. Top quality professional pressing with black poly-lined inner sleeves. Edition of 400. One lucky pre-order will receive an official test pressing with their delivery. **Please note that USPS media mail rates have recently gone up, this is out of our control**

    Includes digital pre-order of Perseids. You get 2 tracks now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released.
    digital album releases April 19, 2024
    item ships out on or around April 18, 2024
    edition of 400 
    Purchasable with gift card

      $22 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Pre-order of Perseids. You get 2 tracks now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released.
    Purchasable with gift card
    releases April 19, 2024

      $8 USD  or more

     

  • "Deep Purple" Vinyl LP - Limited Run - somesurprises - "Perseids"
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Experience Perseids in its warmest form on gorgeous translucent deep purple vinyl. Top quality professional pressing with black poly-lined inner sleeves. Edition of 100. One lucky pre-order will receive an official test pressing with their delivery. **Please note that USPS media mail rates have recently gone up, this is out of our control**

    Includes digital pre-order of Perseids. You get 2 tracks now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released.

    Sold Out

1.
Be reasonable, be reasonable  It’s not inevitable, be reasonable Between my house and the neighbor’s wall  I am not conscious of my anger at all  I’m not sensitive to false alarms I believe myself and I’m safe from harm Be reasonable, be reasonable  It’s not inevitable, be reasonable  Be reasonable, be reasonable  It’s not inevitable, be reasonable (I loved everyone who hurt me, otherwise how could they hurt me  When the medicine is working, I don’t care if they deserve it)
2.
Bodymind
3.
Why I Stay 04:02
You may wonder why I stay but I know If I go I won’t come back Every time I’ve walked away I know I’m not coming back The sun cannot outrun the moon The night cannot overtake the day Each moves in its own orbit And you can’t force it You may wonder why I stay but I know If I go I won’t come back Every time I’ve walked away I know I’m not coming back You may wonder why I stay but I know If I go I won’t come back
4.
Snakes and Ladders
5.
Dark Victory
6.
Black Field
7.
Ship Circles
8.
Untitled
9.
Perseids

about

The return of somesurprises takes the form of Perseids, a full length LP, and their first new music in 5 years. More than just a memorable record, it is unquestionably the band’s finest moment. Led by founding member Natasha El-Sergany, Perseids is not a reinvention of the group’s sound, it is the perfecting of it.

Within seconds of album opener “Be Reasonable,” El-Sergany’s rich, commanding vocal arrives, galactic in size and unearthly in nature. Longtime fans of the project have found themselves entranced by her delivery, as it is a voice that is not only heard but one that seems to inhabit you. The album’s first track feels almost like an incantation as much as a song, and one gets the impression that she may be making a plea to the entire world with it.

Yet even with El-Sergany’s vocals at center stage, the band's instrumentalists don't hold back. Regardless of tempo or feel, the rhythm section is perpetually locked in and the guitar leads ring out energetically. Longtime member Josh Medina compliments the songs with tasteful applications of guitar and synth, while bassist Laura Seniow and drummer Nico Sophiea carry things with deceptively complex grooves. Also featured are two very special guests, composer Jessika Kenney (Sunn O))), Wolves in the Throne Room) and Lori Goldston (Nirvana, Earth) who supply vital contributions to the album.

The Seattle band captures dynamics on these recordings that are frequently missing in contemporary rock, with songs like “Bodymind” and “Why I Stay” featuring giant swells of sound. But just as often as they know when to dial things up, they similarly know when to slow things down. Tracks like the hazy “Snakes and Ladders” and the quietly joyous “(Untitled)” provide the album with natural breathing space between its grander gestures.

It’s a record packed with striking moments, like the unforgettable poem recitation by Jessika Kenney on the album’s title track. The poem, interpreted by Kenney from the original by Hafez, describes the image of meteors in Islamic spiritual tradition, which symbolize the striking down of demons from the heavens in the same way that poetry and art have the power to transform our wounds and struggles into new, stronger narratives. Though written as an ode to this power, Perseids may itself succeed in summoning meteors of its own.

Keen ears might hear traces of Ash Ra Tempel, Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, My Bloody Valentine, Grouper, Mazzy Star, or even Amon Düül II in the music, but as quickly as the familiar vibes appear, they vanish, dissolving into the singular sound that the band has crafted for themselves. While there are surely elements of shoegaze, psych, and dreampop here, somesurprises are less concerned with genre. With songs this pure, the identification of specific styles becomes irrelevant. Indeed, they are ultimately just drops in the ocean of somesurprises’ sound.

This is the record you’ve been waiting for.

“If the wounds of time’s wheel have drained your heart of life,
Like Hafez, into the demon of grief, throw the shooting star’s arrow.”

credits

releases April 19, 2024

All songs by Natasha EI-Sergany

Guitar, vocals, keys: Natasha El-Sergany
Guitar, synth: Josh Medina
Bass Guitar: Laura Seniow
Drums: Nico Sophiea

Special Guests: Lori Goldston (Cello)
Jessika Kenney (Vocals on Perseids)

Producer / Recording Engineer: Paurl Walsh
Recorded at Crybaby Studios and ExEx Audio
Overdubs Recorded at Paurl's garden studio & in our homes, 2020-2022

Mastering: Alan Jones at Laminal Audio

Photography: Lauren Rodriguez

Cover layout: Zac Emerson

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somesurprises Seattle, Washington

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