BLIND THORNS conjures a hypnotic and horrifying dreamscape of sounds that simultaneously pummels and entrances listeners into ecstatic acquiescence. Wordless saccharine vocals, ethereal guitar, and meditative percussion evolve into a brutal growl, crushing riffage, and relentless pounding. The serenity of a deserted cemetery, wind whistling on the breeze, leaves rustling, a train in the distance, images that seem to appear before reality is peeled back and the sound of warped tape and backwards incantations cross fade into an echoic torture chamber. Amorphous yet telepathic and controlled communication between the instruments creates dark impressionistic textures, while still rocking the fuck out with a knowing sense of humor.

To call this rock music would make the most sense, but it is clear from the outset that the influences run deep and wide, and that the musicians have achieved a certain level of mastery and versatility on their respective instruments. There is a mysterious quality to Blind Thorns' sound, like something lies hidden beneath the surface. Tribal rhythms, white noise, and throat singing thrust us forward as if on a cinematic suspense adventure through tumult and foes. Glorious melodies are undermined by disheveled sonic debris, yet still manage to pull the heart strings as they struggle to poke through the mayhem. This is the soundtrack for waking up to the fact that our universe is a simulation and there is no waking up.

Blind Thorns began in the Fall of 2011 as a guitar and vocals duo. Guitarist SHANE PERLOWIN, from Asheville, NC, and vocalist ANTOINE LANG, from Geneva, Switzerland, booked a seven-date tour together in Switzerland, having never previously met in the flesh. They were introduced to one another in an email via a mutual friend and liked each other enough through this limited encounter to agree to make some improvised concerts and travel together for a week. As fortune would have it, their musical and personal chemistry was a match and thus began a trans-Atlantic collaboration that has been growing ever since. It was at the end of their first duo tour together in September of 2011 that Perlowin and Läng holed up in a studio in an underground bunker in the Gruyère countryside and recorded the guitar and vocals for what would eventually become the Blind Thorns debut album.

It was several months later, after mixing the duo music, that Perlowin invited his longtime collaborator from AHLEUCHATISTAS, drummer RYAN OSLANCE, to record drums on the album. In the summer of 2012, after a few months of close listening, Oslance laid down his signature textural intensity and brought the music to new heights, tying together the abstract conceptions of Perlowin and Läng with driving and tightly orchestrated rhythms.

In March of 2013, Perlowin and Läng reconvened in a studio outside of Geneva and spent a few days mixing the trio recording.

The finishing touch on this collaboration was bringing in the works of visual artist SARAH CAVALIERI to create a complete aesthetic experience, a universe of nightmare, hallucination, conjuring, color, and magic.