Author & Punisher, the up until now one-man industrial powerhouse masterminded by Tristan Shone, will have a new full-length album titled “Nocturnal Birding” out on October 03rd. Relapse Records will be issuing that album, with Shone sharing the following insight into what makes that record tick:
“When I sat down to start writing this album, I knew I wanted to make songs based on birdsong. The actual first guitar riff is one of the meadowlark’s songs. When you listen to ‘Rook,’ that melody is the rook’s sound. That track is us mimicking one of the rooks’ many songs. I wrote all my tracks around the rhythms and melodies of birds I researched or heard in the wild.”
Bird watching aside, there is a more sociopolitical/humanitarian bent to the album, which has been, “dedicated to those who have lost their lives traveling across the border from Mexico to the USA through a cruel policy of prevention by deterrence. This land is not ours to hold onto nor was it ours to take.”
While Shone has remained the sole mastermind of the band throughout their career, guitarist Doug Sabolick (Ecstatic Vision, ex-A Life Once Lost) appears on this effort as the first actual bandmate to properly join him.
Mixing and mastering for this new album was done by GRAMMY Award-winning producer/musician Will Putney (Knocked Loose, Body Count), while guest appearances from Gange, Couch Slut‘s Megan Oztrosits, and Kuntari are all featured. The latter appears on the album’s first single, “Titanis“, and stated of that collab:
“It’s hard to imagine the organic local sequence from us blend with monstrous industrial sound from Tristan. After many hours of discussion we instantly clicked and agreed where the song ended up. The results are beyond our imagination, Tristan easily fluids into fresh territory and we don’t have a border to break to. By far this is one of the most awe inspiring experience for us, not to mention our video production which is insanely epic and hilarious at the same time. The most memorable moment is we share a good laugh along the process.”
Manda Selena and Ican Harem co-directed the video for that song, which was filmed in Bali, Indonesia this past summer. As for the political bent to the record, it stems from humanitarian work Shone has been engaged in for the past few years. He explained:
“I’ve been doing my waterdrop work, which has been eye-opening for me. Border Angels is a group that drops water along the US/Mexico border. Two years ago, they opened up for volunteers again and I got to go out on a hike with them. I was out in Jacumba where I started doing hikes once a month, dropping water and getting to know some people, and I’ve been doing it ever since.
It was very humbling and there was always this soundtrack of the birds out there through different seasons. For me it was an awakening: my eyes and ears were open to nature and this cruel and unnecessary humanitarian crisis at the border.”
“Nocturnal Birding” track listing:
01 – “Meadowlark”
02 – “Titanis” (feat. Kuntari)
03 – “Mute Swan” (feat. Megan Oztrosits of Couch Slut)
04 – “Black Storm Petrel” (feat. Fange)
05 – “Titmouse”
06 – “Titmice”
07 – “Rook”
08 – “Thrush”
Pre-orders are up now via orcd.co/authorandpunisher. Initial touring in support of the record will find the band hitting the following cities:
10/18 Lisboa, POR – Music Station (feat. Blood Incantation)
10/20 Madrid, SPA – Sala Mon (feat. Blood Incantation)
10/21 Barcelona, SPA – Sala Wolf
10/22 Marseille, FRA – Le Molotov
10/23 Montpellier, FRA – In Tenebris Lux
10/24 Nilvange, FRA – Gueulard Plus (feat. Divide & Dissolve)
10/25 Maastricht, NET – Samhain Fest
With Bong-Ra:
10/26 Hamburg, GER – MS Stubnitz
10/27 Aarhus, DEN – Voxhall
10/28 Oslo, NOR – Goldie
10/29 Goteborg, SWE – Monument
10/30 Copenhagen, DEN – Stengade
10/31 Berlin, GER – Kantine am Berghaim
11/01 Gdansk, POL – Drizzly Grizzly
11/02 Warsaw, POL – Voodoo
11/03 Poznan, POL – 2Progi
11/04 Leipzig, GER – UT Connewitz
11/05 Frankfurt, GER – Elfer Club
11/06 Paris, FRA – Backstage
11/07 Bruxelles, BEL – Magasin 4
11/08 Lille, FRA – La Bulle
11/09 Manchester, UK – Damnation Festival (no Bong-Ra):
With King Yosef:
11/12 San Diego, CA – The Casbah
11/13 Los Angeles, CA – The Echo
