The Devil Wears Prada vocalist Mike Hranica will be releasing his debut solo album on October 04th. The aforementioned musician has assumed the moniker of Town Of Lake for that venture, with “Lilac” having been chosen as the title to this initial entry in the project’s catalog. A visualizer for the song “No Gloss” has newly launched.
A press release lists Nick Cave, Swans and more as points of inspiration for this project. Stepping well outside the confines of metalcore, Town Of Lake seems like an extension of the abstract writings of his published poetry rather than the heavier fare Hranica is known for. Speaking on some of the creative bedrock for this endeavor, he offered:
“Hearing ‘Songs About Fucking‘ for the first time. Hearing ‘Filth‘ for the first time. Hearing ‘Goat‘ for the first time. First time reading Nausea. First time reading Lolita. These experiences are monumental in guiding what I create.”
His The Devil Wears Prada bandmate Mason Nagy and Weekend Nachos‘ Andy Nelson were enlisted to help flesh out the album in the studio. Hranica described that experience:
“For most of ‘Lilac‘, the lyric would either directly dictate the sounds or the sounds would directly dictate the lyric. Everything was tracked at Bricktop. Certainly not a remote project. The three of us cooked up everything there in Chicago. In terms of the instrumentation I think we each played everything at one point. Andy is certainly the most learned with keyboards, so he cornered most of those sounds. I handled the songs’ writing, their inception, their lyrics, and most electric guitar. Mason cornered 99% of bass. All in all, improvisation plays a huge part in my songs for Town of Lake.”
As for the potential reaction to the project, he relayed:
“I have no care or concern for Town of Lake’s appeal. I’ve been playing in The Devil Wears Prada since the band’s inception and I fully recognize that music on a more challenging scale will not likely be received as openly.”
“Lilac” track listing:
01 – “Shall I Let You Leave Me + Sin Título”
02 – “Can Of Soup”
03 – “No Gloss”
04 – “The Valley”
05 – “Death Of A Neighborhood”
06 – “Reading Off My Dreams”
07 – “Tumult / Cheater”
08 – “Where At?”
09 – “How I Feel”
10 – “Drops Gather”
Pre-orders are available through mikehranica.com.
