With Life Is Violence, IDLE HEIRS have created a post-metal record that captures a certain vulnerability within its mournful sound. Embracing the idea that art can be an effective way of processing experiences, vocalist Sean Ingram channeled a complex web of grief and existential thought into his lyrics.
The album’s latest single “Dead Ringer” showcases this complexity; it is profound and poignant, and arrives today with a performance video. Ingram shares, “When I reached an emotional dead end and was prepared to admit all I’ve built was a loss, it allowed me to get past my grief. Get past myself. I decided to step off a ledge here and be prepared for ‘Dead Ringer’ to be the last thing I write. I wanted it to count for the closest people in my life so that after I’m long gone it would be the save point that they went back to, to remember anything I might have to give by. It’s my love letter to life and how fragile it is when we’re prepared to surrender it so easily.”
Featuring vocalist Sean Ingram of Coalesce and producer Josh Barber, Idle Heirs will release their debut album Life Is Violence on Relapse Records on April 11.
Life Is Violence was recorded at Ocean Sound studio in Norway— something of a bucket list adventure, given Barber’s fondness of Cult of Luna. Indulging themselves in the freedom that came with creating without restriction or expectation, the pair decamped to the icy Norwegian wilderness with five of their collaborators to lay down the eight tracks. The isolation of the studio and the absence of external pressures allowed for an unparalleled clarity and exacting level of attention to detail.
Pre-order Life Is Violence here.
For over a decade Sean Ingram’s focus had been elsewhere; due to the prolonged hiatus of Coalesce, music was no longer at the forefront of his artistic endeavors. When events – on both a global and personal level, and specifically, where the two intersect – conspired to bring Ingram & Barber to a place where music once again became essential, the seed for IDLE HEIRS was planted. Rather than the conditions being right for a musical reprise, the conditions had to be all wrong, leaving only one way forward.
Together with producer and engineer Josh Barber, whose recording credits include Norma Jean, The Devil Wears Prada, Tech N9ne, and more, the two piece band from the Kansas City area is a tight knit unit that hums with creativity, and revels in the freedom of creating exactly what their hearts desire. Originally conceived as a private endeavor with the sole aim of articulating unresolved damage, Idle Heirs has bloomed into a fully realized project, with a blistering debut album on the horizon.
Life Is Violence track list:
- Loose Tooth
- Rare Bird
- Jaded Mountain
- Lemonade Stands
- Dim Shepherd
- Pillow Talk
- Dead Ringer
- Momma
