Music News - NZ's Terrible Sons announce new album, 'The Raft Is Not The Shore'
20 February 2023 - 0 Comments
Ōtautahi/Christchurch husband-and-wife, Terrible Sons announce their anticipated debut album
The Raft Is Not The Shore due out on April 28th on Nettwerk. With truly stunning art work by Spanish Illustrator,
Cinta Arribas. The record was recorded in their home studio, with producer Tom Healy (Tiny Ruins, Marlon Williams, Nadia Reid) featuring a host of exceptional Ōtautahi musicians: Jo Barus, Joe McCallum,
Cam Pearce and Chris Wethey. Pre-order for the album is available HERE and at terriblesons.com
Woven throughout by the twin ideas of the passing of time and water, The Raft Is Not The Shore signals a new chapter of intentional songwriting in the duo’s discography. After three EPs including 2021’s much-lauded Mass,
this debut album came together during the pandemic as the duo attempted to “write closer together, about what we know, what was moving us at the time, and putting ourselves in vulnerable spaces," says Matt Barus. The band
had a fluid list of titles but the only one that stuck was “The Raft Is Not The Shore", a line from a Buddhist parable between a Vietnamese and American, two poets and activists. “One of the meanings was the idea to hold your beliefs lightly. In light of the entrenched spaces we find ourselves in 2022/23, this felt prescient and gave further meaning to our songs. To be willing to walk in another’s shoes, or to at least imagine, was something we wanted to hold ourselves to.”
When the pandemic struck, LA Mitchell and Matt Barus, together known as Terrible Sons, had to wait two years between flights. At the time they had just finished working on an EP with producer/guitarist Tom Healy (Tiny Ruins, Marlon Williams, Jen Cloher) and their full band of drummer Jo McCullum (Nadia Reid, The Veils etc) and brother, bassist and backing vocalist Jo Barus (Sir Dave Dobbyn). So flushed with the experience of having Tom at the helm that they promptly booked in a session for a full album of yet-to-be written songs. However, with New Zealand’s strict lockdown and travel rules in place, the recordings would take much longer than the songs took to write. Tom, in Auckland, had to book and rebook flights, waiting for gaps in the travel ban before he could return to complete the sessions in Christchurch. Six flights later, followed by six months of back-and-forth mixing, and the album is finally complete.
The playlist given to the band before the recording has a few clues as to the sound of the album. Simon & Garfunkel, Dr John, Bill Withers and Bobbie Gentry are there, alongside Blake Millsand Olafur Arnalds. The album looks to the past but is irrevocably modern, with glitches courtesy of Tom and concerns that are equally relevant now as they were fifty years ago. There’s strings, space and quiet, offset with moments of frenetic joy.
Terrible Sons is the moniker for husband/wife duo Matthew Barus (The Dukes) and Lauren Barus (L.A. Mitchell, Fly My Pretties), who work
and live with their two children in an intentional community near Christchurch. Having clocked up over 18 million streams on previous singles since 2018, the quietly accomplished band is signed to Nettwerk Music Group. The band's string
of sparse, yet intimate modern folk EP releases include their most recent, and much-lauded third EP Mass.
Most Viewed Artists
Latest Galleries
NZ Top 10 Singles
- APT.
ROSÉ And Bruno Mars - DIE WITH A SMILE
Lady Gaga And Bruno Mars - BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Billie Eilish - TASTE
Sabrina Carpenter - I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY
Gracie Abrams - ESPRESSO
Sabrina Carpenter - SAILOR SONG
Gigi Perez - LOSE CONTROL
Teddy Swims - A BAR SONG (TIPSY)
Shaboozey - GOOD LUCK, BABE!
Chappell Roan
More Content on muzic.net.nz
Google Site Search
100% New Zealand Music
All content on this website is copyright to muzic.net.nz and other respective rights holders. Redistribution of any material presented here without permission is prohibited.
Report A Problem
There are currently no comments for this article. Please log in to add new comments.