Baroness have announced details of their forthcoming sixth studio album, Stone, and shared its first single, Last Word.
Stone, self-produced by the band and mixed by Joe Barresi (Kyuss, The Bronx), will be released on September 15 via Abraxan Hymns. The striking video for Last Word was also created 'in-house', directed by bassist Nick Jost.
“I had been developing this process for video and animation, and this being our first self-produced album, we thought, Why not extend that ethos to the video, too?” says Jost. “It was really nerve racking to direct and create my first music video, but having a lifetime of nightmares and a love for strange animation turned out to be very useful.”
“An important through line in Baroness is we don't like to repeat ourselves," says band leader John Baizley. "It's all about the willingness to take risks. When I was younger, the whole point of music was to be different, not to do the same thing, and not to listen to parents or play by the rules. That's kind of goofy, but in practice, it works.
“It's really sort of terrifying to be at the sixth record in your career and think that you'll have to keep up with your history rather than continually invent. So, we doubled down on continuously inventing to see where it takes us. I think this record is a good reflection of that. Stone is a lot more alive, more direct.”
“The recording process was completely self-contained,” adds drummer Sebastian Thomsen. “Having just the four of us in a rented house in the mountains for a month resulted in not only a cohesive and authentic sound, but also an intense collective mentality.”
“I think we were able to strip everything away on this record,” guitarist Gina Gleason shares. “We were unified in that. So, we just jumped in and did our best. That felt really good. It was a really cool, empowering, creative experience.”
Watch the video for Last Word below
The album tracklist is:
1. Embers
2. Last Word
3. Beneath the Rose
4. Choir
5. The Dirge
6. Anodyne
7. Shine
8. Magnolia
9. Under the Wheel
10. Bloom
