Hide Launch Aural Assault With Chainsaw

Chicago duo Hide are back with news of their new album Hell is Here, set for release August 23 via Dais Records. The first single from the album ‘Chainsaw’ is streaming online now.  The lyrics to ‘Chainsaw’ aren't written by the band, rather, they are a slew of verbal assaults they have received repeatedly on the street, often while in the company of a child. The video is a collaboration with film makers Chris Hefner (Chicago) and Menthol Pictures (NYC).

Hide are an electronic duo based in Chicago, made up of fine artist Gabel and percussionist Seth Sher. Together since 2014, the pair create sample based compositions using a combination of self-sourced field recordings and various pop culture/media. Releases include 2016's Black Flame EP which is dedicated to the memory of Reyhana Jabbari, a 27 year old Iranian woman who was hung for allegedly killing someone who trying to rape her, and deals with various human rights violations in Iran. Hide 's 2017 debut album Castration Anxiety addressed issues of power dynamics and representation. Seething with textured yet minimal tracks, Hide gives raw vulnerability an opportunity to unfurl, yielding an album that calls for personal autonomy and the destruction of anything barring the way. A single on Sub-Pop for the label's singles club followed, with two unhinged tracks touching on the phenomenon of internalized misogyny and aspects of motherhood.

Hide 's second full length album Hell is Here on Dais is set for release August 23 and sees the band's evolution pushed even further. The tone is sick and heavy. Using their previously established blueprint of complex drum programming, stomach churning sub bass and aggressive expressive vocals, Gabel and Sher poke and prod at the perception of musical context, and remind the listener that feelings of anxiety, pain, and discomfort are equally as important as those of resolution. Perhaps the strongest tool utilized here is the material’s dichotomy between the abrasive and the sterile. Beneath the crushing noisy exterior, sparks the familiar human voice. Divorced from their caustic counterparts Gabel’s vocals play a decisive role in cementing narrative for the material’s uncompromising assault on the senses.

Opening track ‘Chainsaw’ immediately lays the groundwork for the excursion to come. Twisted, cold, and dry repetition soundtracks a one sided catcalling verbal assault. The summation of material presented on Hell Is Here is perhaps best interpreted as the rawest innards of Hide’s vision for the self-governing ideology that’s consistently present throughout their body of work. Painful truth and honest examination of life’s darkest, and often undiscussed, crevices scratch and claw their way to the surface through the duo’s strongest and most confrontational work to date.

Hide cut their teeth in the DIY spaces of Chicago and have continued touring vigorously since. Last year the band toured Europe, Russia and UK in addition to multiple North American runs. Known for their energetic live performances, the duo also work as interdisciplinary artists together, creating films and visual art installations as well.

See HIDE live with Kontravoid

02/10 - UK Manchester Soup Kitchen

03/10 - UK London The Shacklewell Arms