The Duke Spirit release their new album ‘Bruiser’ on September 19th on Fiction Records HEAR new track “Procession” Click Here
http://www.myspace.com/thedukespirit/music/songs/PROCESSION-76906298
The five piece from London; Liela Moss, Toby Butler, Luke Ford, Olly Betts and Marc Sallis; have spent the past eight months whipping their new tunes into fighting shape. Returning from two years of touring behind their acclaimed album ‘Neptune’, the band hunkered down in their new London studio space for the first time ever to sketch out tracks on their own turf.
Recording sessions were fuelled by the band’s rekindled appreciation for an eclectic mix of music; from Robert Fripp & David Bowie to Roxy Music to Depeche Mode. The band’s direction becoming more about a minimalist approach sound-wise, Liela explains, “the tracks are marshalled lyrically and musically by strange harmonies that arrive unexpectedly, transient sprinkles of tonal magic, and those short guitar solos that make their point and leave.”
After a few months of work in London, the band grabbed their tapes and files for a pilgrimage back to Los Angeles to finish the record with Andrew Scheps (Johnny Cash, Chilli Peppers, Metallica). Scheps (who has a rep for being Rick Rubin’s favourite pair of ears, as well as a production wizard) helped them slim down their instrumentation so it would ultimately thump on the stereo. Bruiser is the third album from The Duke Spirit, following on from their critically acclaimed debut Cuts Across The Land and 2008’s Neptune. Since Neptune arrived, The Duke Spirit have had a few adventures collaborating with the fashion world — designers Philip Lim and the late Alexander McQueen called Liela their muse — but Moss says such experiences didn’t directly affect Bruiser. ‘There’s an element of costume in a song like ‘Procession’ that perhaps is related to seeing a part of the fashion world up-close, feeling the theatrics of it in the room’ ‘Bruiser’ is a fitting album title, musically it’s a collection of squealing guitars, churning riffs, and powerful drumming, Moss sums it up perfectly: “Bruiser is tough love. Bruiser is an order of seraphim singing burning praise. Bruiser is a sensual creature or a woodland demon…just look at that Ram on the cover!”
