Austin slowcore greats American Analog Set are back and will release For Forever, their first album in 18 years, on October 27. The Know By Heart lineup of the band have been working on the album for a decade, casually, in frontman Andrew Kenny’s garage. He told the Austin Chronicle earlier this year, “It’s kind of a cool uncle’s club – a subset of dad rock. We just really enjoy getting together and sharing that language we spent years developing together. We’re not in a rush to complicate it.”
You can check out the album’s cover art below and here’s the official word:
For Forever folds time and space. While the sounds and stories will be recognizable to fans, they arrive with considerable bruises incurred on the journey from Set Free until now. For those unfamiliar with The American Analog Set, this should be a simultaneously dark and vibrant introduction. Troubled lyrics permeate throughout, and the accompanying sounds are occasionally damaged and snarling. Not all things languid and dreamlike from past records have been abandoned or forgotten, but the dreams represented here are darker. While the previous eras of the band are referenced, they are carried forward and incorporated without a hint of patronizing nostalgia. For Forever is a document of a group that acknowledges their past while they advance into new territories and evolve.
The Austin Chronicle says that Numero Group is working on a AmAnSet box set focusing on their first three albums — AmAnSet’s late Nineties trifecta on Austin’s Emperor Jones – 1996’s The Fun of Watching Fireworks, 1997’s From Our Living Room to Yours, and 1999’s The Golden Band . That’s due next year, so stay tuned for details.
In late September, a “new” AmAnSet song, “Queen of Her Own Parade,” was released to streaming services via Numero Group. No word on whether this is from the new album or part of the box set, but you can listen below.
