The Minneapolis-based quartet, The Awful Truth, returns with a new album, Glisten -– a collection of burnished, late-summer songs that succeed in capturing the elusive colors of intuition, bliss and unconditional love. The album finds frontman and chief songwriter, Brent Colbert, navigating subconscious narratives with the band’s subtle blend of synth pop and folk rock. Their arresting instrumental arrangements have advanced since the group’s formation in 2014.
“The group has solidified and become something I never thought it could making the arrangements more elevated than ever before” says Colbert. “They still really reflect a lot of internal dialogue I am experiencing but aim to be less alienating and provide a tone and mood that is less brooding and more inviting of light, even when that light is subtle.”
Glisten also marks a departure from their previous release, Lakewater (2015),within the quality of the songs as well. The recording process was much more extensive than any previous work; writing and recording took the band a year and a half. Citing Chad VanGaalen, Angel Olsen and Yo La Tengo as influences, the interplay between Colbert’s guitar and Stephen Sokolouski’s cello evoke the rise and fall of rivers radiant in the sun. The band rounds out their sound with Laurie Geving on bass and vocals and Chris Madden on drums.
The new album will see its release (digital and cassette) through Homestead Records on January 6, 2017. Their lead single “Blissed Out” features upstart luminary Esmé Patterson. “I really dug the song from the first time I heard it,” says Esmé. “Brent came on tour with me this summer and one late night I twisted his arm to play the tune acoustically in the backyard for some friends. I had drank enough tequila to start singing a harmony with him, and he asked me to sing it on stage at a few shows subsequently... and the rest is history. I really love this tune. Brent's lyrics and melodies are so original and deeply real and magical.”
“These are the most heartrending songs we've created together,” says Colbert of Glisten’s tunes. “I like all the nuanced moments in past lo-fi recordings, but this band has evolved with the many new layers of vulnerability living in these songs. I feel more grounded and in touch with my voice than ever. The eleven tracks on Glisten have shaped themselves and created their own unique microcosms.”
