NULL, KEN mode's brand-new aural abrasion, may be the group's quintessential statement of mental collapse and despair made sonic, a direct psychological reaction to the collective experience of the last two years. Drawing from desperate noise and industrial sonics, the band has mixed in a decidedly more devastating tone to their already pointed metallic hardcore influenced extreme noise rock.
Founded by brothers Jesse and Shane Matthewson, KEN mode has come to define intensity and dedication, via tours with Russian Circles, Torche, and Full of Hell, and releases produced by the likes of Steve Albini, Kurt Ballou, and Matt Bayles.
The new album NULL sees this warhorse of a band emerge from the darkest of times with new energy, evolved and ready to carry on into its next chapter. KEN mode guitarist/vocalist Jesse Matthewson points to the bleakest days of the COVID-19 pandemic as a well of inspiration for the new album, proclaiming NULL to be "a direct psychological reaction to the collective experience of the last two and a half years." Having sunk to new lows, Matthewson was instilled with a newfound urgency to make the most authentic and courageous art possible: "We felt like there was really no reason to do anything at all unless we were trying to push this into something new," he states.
Recorded and mixed by Andrew Schneider (Cave In, Unsane), NULL is KEN mode's eighth full-length album. NULL is the first KEN mode release to feature collaborator Kathryn Kerr (sax, synth, piano, percussion, backing vocals) as a full-fledged member of the band; the album features a new palette of No Wave and industrial-tinged sounds (shades of Swans, John Zorn, Einsturzende Neubauten), infiltrating some of its tracks.
Released Late September 2022 by Artoffact Records.
Tracks Listing:
01. A Love Letter
02. Throw Your Phone In the River
03. The Tie
04. But They Respect My Tactics
05. Not My Fault
06. Lost Grip
07. The Desperate Search For An Enemy
08. Unresponsive
English