Unreal (ATP) is Daniel Blumberg’s first Hebronix album since leaving Yuck, the band he fronted from 2010 to 2012 and quit to “work on other things.” Now that it’s released, we can understand why he left. Produced by Neil Hagerty (Royal Trux, Howling Hex), Unreal isn’t Yuck, and it isn’t supposed to be. The clouds of guitar noise that saturate the album are quieter, moodier, more unsettling; the singing wearier, stretched thin as an old E string; and the songs more introspective, turning inward with lines like, “I’ve got some things to do/Some private things to do” and “I’m thinking about things/I already know.” Blumberg will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our recent Hebronix feature.
Blumberg: I spent August painting in the Orkney islands at Brendan’s house. I met him a few years ago at an exhibition he had near where I live in London.
We share a very similar work ethic and approach to what we do.
I am in awe of his body of work.
To stay in his house amongst his many hundreds of oil paintings and drawings was like being exposed to a beautiful secret.
He’s been working on these paintings his whole life, and I feel so lucky to have come into contact with them. Not many people know about him simply because he’s not really made an effort to push his work in front of peoples faces.
He made a drawing book for my boiledegg.org.
And also did the artwork for the new A Grave With No Name album called Poltergeist.
Alex of A Grave With No Name is one of only musicians I have an ongoing dialogue with about each other’s work.
He was a huge part of the whole process of the Hebronix record, listening to demos, discussing ideas.
Having Brendan and Alex collaborate for poltergeist was very beautiful.
