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Nefarious Industries is preparing for the New Year's Eve release of A Normal Temporary Reaction To Life Events, the tenth album from eclectic rock/alternative solo act HUMANS ETCETERA.
A Normal Temporary Reaction To Life Events was written and captured incrementally from November 2016 to October 2019 in Wenzhou, China by HUMANS ETCETERA's sole member, Christopher Henry. On the album, Henry handles all vocals, guitars, bass, drums, keys, xylophone, sampling, recording, mixing, and cover artwork, after which the tracks were mastered by Bill Henderson at Azimuth Mastering.
"'For The Sake Of Truth' is the rug that ties the album sonically and narratively together. It's at this point the music gets darker and more turbulent," Henry offers. "As for the story, it's here that the protagonist drinks too much and winds up in a few surreal nightmare-like predicaments. He drinks to find relief from a barrage of daily setbacks and societal demands but finds only an empty bottle. And there is no truth inside of it."
The new video showcases Henry performing the song live in a stripped-down style. He reminisces, "Due to the song's very layered arrangement and overall cacophony, I thought it'd be a fun challenge to try and perform it with just an acoustic guitar and vocals. After messing with it for a while, it seemed to work. So, I brought a tripod and a kitchen chair down to the basement of my building and filmed it. Shooting down there was interesting. The noise/motion activated lights kept flipping off and on. Plus, there were a few workers down there sorting out various remodeling debris, breaking down boxes, and stuff like that. They didn't stop to watch me, but they also didn't seem to mind me singing for them."
Captured Howls writes with the video's premiere, "The studio version of the song gradually grows in unsettling intensity as the deranged rock textures feel like the musical encapsulation of a boat hitting waters rough enough to spark some seasickness... In the video, project mastermind Chris Henry performs acoustically in a visually stark setting, and his powerfully earnest vocal work really gets a chance to shine alongside the core melodic backbone of this song, which really jumps out in the acoustic version."
Watch HUMANS ETCETERA's "For The Sake Of Truth" live video and hear the album version of the song both at Captured Howls RIGHT HERE.
Nefarious Industries will release A Normal Temporary Reaction To Life Events digitally on December 31st. Those who preorder directly from Nefarious will receive two additional original bonus tracks in addition to the album's eleven songs.
Find preorders at the label webshop HERE and all digital platforms where the previously-issued "Big Snow Mountain" video can be seen HERE.
Henry is also writing and performing with Fuck Your Birthday, in preparation for recording their next album. Meanwhile, Polyphozia has nearly completed their debut album and are looking at spring 2020 release and China tour. One thing's for sure, the future won't be without the prolific delivery of Henry's musical works.
HUMANS ETCETERA is an experimental rock outfit and passion project of singer/songwriter/recording artist, Christopher Henry. Primarily a solo endeavor, occasionally a collaborative effort, the music of HUMANS ETCETERA is created in the time between work with his other China-based bands -- Fuck Your Birthday and Polyphozia - both in which Henry wears the singer/guitarist shoes. HUMANS ETCETERA began in 2012 as Henry's outlet for recording experiments and songwriting, the artist using the project to relax from the pressure of being a full-time college student at West Virginia University and holding down a part-time job as a photo-tech.
A Normal Temporary Reaction To Life Events is an experimental rock album that sews together a mental unravelling from sides both before and beyond sleep. It begins with lulling hypnotic guitar and drum loops and wades deeper and deeper into a psychedelic mess of anxiety and depression. The protagonist is worried about the future, afraid of riding ahead alone, and tries to gather confidence but breaks down at the awareness of reality's callousness. From here, he tries escapism via alcohol, and soon succumbs to vivid dreams of being lost in the Daisetsu mountains, hypothermia, autosarcophagy, and being transported through dream-death to a world in which the only currency is hope itself. He stands in the metro station with an empty wallet and feels torn between asking for help or hiding behind a phone screen. The listener must then make the choice: repeat the cycle with the comfort of familiarity or go it alone.
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