Stereogum crowned "ecstatic black metal" crew Agriculture one of the Best New Bands Of 2023, and the band also made one of the Best Songs Of 2024. It doesn't look like Agriculture are slowing down any time soon, but some of their members are splintering off into concurring side projects: Cali Bellow put out a solo EP last summer, and today, guitarist/vocalist Daniel Meyer has announced a solo album of his own called Kneeling.
Meyer's sharing his first two singles today: "Omen" and "A Great Man." Neither of them are quite as metallic as his band's stuff, but they do carry a sort of weighty darkness. The first half the record is inspired by the Old Testament -- Meyer's not Christian, but he did find some good imagery in there. The back half is darker, substituting lyrics with shrieks and groans. Meyer explains:
I wanted these songs to sound like huge piles—big leafy piles that you could just jump into. I wasn’t worried about fidelity and actually wanted weird audio artifacts to pop up from all the layering. My rule was just to record everything as many times as I could before I had to get up... I kept a lot of bad takes in the mixes too. Everything was recorded on a vintage Tascam 4-track and then transferred to my computer. I just wanted them to sound huge and small at the same time.
Listen to "Omen" and "A Great Man" below; the former song comes with a video featuring some very cute footage of Meyer's dog Shiloh.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Ugly Man 16 Angels"
02 "Omen"
03 "Sacrificing A Calf"
04 "Blanket"
05 "Lamplight"
06 "The Beach"
07 "Pavement"
08 "Takeout"
09 "A Great Man"
Kneeling is out 3/28 via the Flenser.
