Ganser’s Nothing You Do Matters EP reveled in tension and repetition, produced with Liars’ Angus Andrew. The Chicago post-punk trio reconnected with him for their latest album, Animal Hospital (out Aug. 29 via felte), which is their first with new singer Sophie Sputnik.
“The album is about that space between what we are and what we pretend to be,” Alicia Gaines says. “You’ve got instincts: raw, animal things — and then all these systems we build, all these dreams of being civilized or advanced or whatever. But those two things don’t always line up. And time doesn’t care. Time just keeps going. It pulls everything apart, slow and quiet like water in the walls. And we’re all just in there, making noise, trying to figure out which side of the glass we’re on.”
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They lead off their new era with “Black Sand,” the LP’s opening track, continuing to refine the jagged sound of their early days into a sleeker, scorching whole. “When I wrote these lyrics a few years ago, there were wildfires, real ones,” Sputnik details. “And a lot of talk around LGBTQ rights in Florida where I’m from. It’s strange because these things, they don’t just go away. They linger. They shift. They burn, and then they burn differently. And here we are still talking about wildfires and LGBTQ rights in Florida.
“And the thing about language — about ideas — is they’re alive,” she continues. “That’s why people get scared of them. Because once they’re out, you can’t get them back in the box. They spread like smoke under a door. Can’t be held still. That’s the power, and also the danger.”
See the video for “Black Sand,” directed by Gaines, below.
Ganser – Animal Hospital tracklist
- “Black Sand”
- “stripe”
- “Ten Miles Tall”
- “Dig Until I Reach the Moon”
- “Grounding Exercises”
- “Half Plastic”
- “Speaking of the future,”
- “Creature Habits”
- “Lounger”
- “Discount Diamonds”
- “Plato”
- “Left to Chance”