Lionlimb used to be billed as the project of Stewart Bronaugh and Joshua Jaeger, two members of Angel Olsen’s backing band. As a duo, they released two impressive albums, 2016’s Shoo and 2018’s Tape Recorder, psych-pop efforts informed by Elliott Smith at his catchiest, Britpop at its spaciest, chamber-pop at its most maudlin. Now, more than three years since we last heard from the band, Lionlimb is back with Bronaugh solely in control.

Today he’s sharing the lead single from a new album called Spiral Groove, out in November. “Loveland Pass” is about Bronaugh’s experience getting panic attacks for the first time a couple years ago. It’s a crisp, ornate production that blooms into something immaculate and expansive by the end. Here’s what Bronaugh has to say about it:

It was like a door opened I never knew existed and there didn’t seem to be anything I could do to stop or control them. Loveland Pass is one of the highest mountain passes in Colorado that has been the site of numerous avalanches, plane and car crashes. When I wrote this song I felt like I was having my own avalanches. The tiniest thought capable of feeding back into intense fear and panic, similar to an avalanche once something would get knocked loose up there and start to slide there wasn’t really anything you could do.

And here’s a quote from Angel Olsen about the new album:

Right from the start, Spiral Groove pulls us into a rhythmic soundscape, erupting over and over with guitar, piano, synth, drums building and subsiding and returning again with joyful urgency. Above it all Stewart Bronaugh sings cool and steady about his close experiences with death, what it means to endure your losses and the gift of being able to recognize the most real love in your life.

Hear “Loveland Pass”

TRACKLIST:
01 “Electric”
02 “Everyday”
03 “Gone”
04 “Here”
05 “Lifespan”
06 “Loveland Pass”
07 “Nothing”
08 “Real Life”
09 “Temporary”
10 “Ultraviolet”

Spiral Groove is out 11/12 on Bayonet. Pre-order it here.