Austin rock band Ume today announced that they will release their much-anticipated new album, Monuments, on March 4th via Dangerbird Records. Monuments is the follow-up to the trio’s heralded debut full-length album Phantoms, which was released in 2011. The new album was recorded in Seattle, WA at Robert Lang Studios and produced by Grammy® Award winning producer Adam Kasper (Queens of the Stone Age, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Cat Power). Monuments is available for pre-order beginning today exclusively on iTunes.
“We didn’t hold anything back with Monuments. I think Adam Kasper really helped us to capture in a sincere and sonically heavy way that freedom we feel live,” said the band’s guitarist and vocalist Lauren Larson. “For me, each song is a sort of commemoration of a different emotion or experience. One song might make you want to bang your head and the next make you want to hug someone you love. I think it’s these wildly different textures that make us a band and make us all human. That’s what we wanted to communicate — something honest and different through a rock record. We really can’t wait to get this one out.”
Hailing from Austin, Texas, Ume is Lauren Larson (Vocals, Guitar), Eric Larson (Bass), and Rachel Fuhrer (Drums) and rarely is the platform for women in rock updated as authoritatively as its been done with this band. The trio’s music is one of beautiful juxtapositions: the loud and soft, the aggressive and eerie, buoyant melodies bursting through wall-of-noise dissonance.
Ume explores the artier, heavier side of indie rock, post-punk, and alternative rock and have already garnered the attention of Nylon, who declared, “This band is ready to break out in a whole new way… A little like fuzzy shoegaze, raw garage rock and irresistible pop all rolled into one fiery package,” while Village Voice proclaimed, “Ume immediately won me over with their raucous bursts of guitar-driven art rock, with front woman Lauren Larson threatening to take the whole thing off the rails with the abuse of her guitar strings. Still, underneath this Ume possesses an air of intelligence and depth rare in a genre known primarily for its copious drug use. When it comes to art, psychedelia, and rock and roll, it doesn’t get much better.”  Rolling Stone said, “Distortion-heavy jams (and the whole marriage thing) invite comparisons to Sonic Youth, but Ume do more headbanging and wailing.”
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Ume have won over audiences across the country as a result of their momentous live show and toured over 150 dates in support of their prior release. They’ve supported …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Warpaint, The Smashing Pumpkins, Franz Ferdinand, Helmet, and Cursive, and were personally invited to open for Jane’s Addiction at a Lollapalooza afterparty by Perry Ferrell last year. The band also appeared on the 2012 Season Premiere of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations, sharing their insight on local Austin food during Bourdain’s visit to SXSW.
Monuments Track Listing
1. Black Stone
2. Embrace
3. Too Big World
4. Chase It Down
5. Until The End
6. Barophobia
7. Revival
8. Gleam
9. Oh Fate
10. Barricade
11. Within My Bones
12. Reason
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