''Albeit Living'' is the second studio album by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Sextile Sextile may refer to * Sextile (astrological aspect), an astrological aspect ** its corresponding Unicode character , a horizontally-aligned six-pointed asterisk * Sextile (band), an American post-punk band {{Disambiguation ...

. Produced by band members Brady Keehn and Melissa Scaduto, it was released on July 14, 2017 by Felte record label.

Background and music

''Albeit Living'' was recorded in the

Echo Park Echo Park is a neighborhood in the east-Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles, California. Located to the northwest of Downtown Los Angeles, Downtown, it is bordered by Silver Lake, Los Angeles, Silver Lake to the west and Chinato ...

residence of the band. The announcement of the album was accompanied by the release of the single "One of These" and its music video. Named after the

Circle X Circle X was an American experimental rock band, formed in 1978 in Louisville, Kentucky. They were part of the late 1970s/early 1980s No Wave scene. Background Early career Circle X formed in Louisville, Kentucky in 1978 when art students ...

song of the same name, the record is described as a

synth punk Electronic rock (also known as electro rock and synth rock) is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s when rock b ...

and

art punk Art punk, or artcore, is a subgenre of punk rock in which artists go beyond the genre's rudimentary garage rock and are considered more sophisticated than their peers. These groups still generated punk's aesthetic of being simple, offensive, and ...

album. The sound on the record, which was compared to the works of Circle X,

Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft (; "German-American Friendship"), or D.A.F., was a German electropunk/Neue Deutsche Welle band from Düsseldorf, formed in 1978 featuring Gabi Delgado-López, Gabriel "Gabi" Delgado-López (vocals), Robert Gör ...

, and Chrome, places a bigger emphasis on the

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

, with band member Melissa Scaduto characterizing it "more

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

" and " no wavy" compared to the

dark wave Dark wave, or darkwave, is a music genre that emerged from the new wave and post-punk movement of the late 1970s. Dark wave compositions are largely based on minor key tonality and introspective lyrics and have been perceived as being dark, ro ...

stylings of their debut album.

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

critic Heather Phares gave a positive review to ''Albeit Living'', stating that the band "have sharpened their attack since their debut, ditching ''A Thousand Hands'' brooding for weird, frantic songs that overflow with lust, anxiety, and memorable catch phrases." Phares further wrote: "What ''Albeit Living'' lacks in nuance it more than makes up for in trashy, gleeful abandon -- something too many late-2010s synth punk revivalists (and rock bands in general) are missing." Katie Beswick of ''

Loud and Quiet ''Loud and Quiet'' is a British bi-monthly music magazine that focuses on new music from underground indie, alternative, electronic and hip hop artists. History and profile The magazine was founded in January 2005 by Stuart Stubbs as a home-print ...

'' described the record as an "a joyously angry, politically-charged celebration of the absurdity of living in the present day, with a distinctly ’70s punk feel." Writing for ''

Louder Than War ''Louder Than War'' is a music and culture website and magazine focusing on mainly alternative arts news, reviews, and features. The site is an editorially independent publication that was started by the English musician and journalist John R ...

'', Ged Babey noted that "Sextile have found their own identity and a niche where they are the fucked-up royalty" and stated ''Albeit Living'' to be "one of the best albums I have heard this year to have come screaming out of the USA."

Track listing

Album track listing as adapted from

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

. All songs written by Sextile. # "One of These" — 2:27 # "Who Killed Six" — 2:28 # "Ripped" — 3:13 # "Floored" — 2:36 # "Mental" — 2:40 # "Sterilized" — 3:05 # "Das Cat" — 2:30 # "Situations" — 2:19 # "Crisis" — 2:08 # "AVC" — 3:40

Personnel

Album personnel as adapted from liner notes. * Brady Keehn — performer, producer * Melissa Scaduto — performer, producer, artwork * Eddie Wuebben — producer *

Rafael Anton Irisarri Rafael Anton Irisarri is a United States composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer and mastering engineer based in New York City, New York. He is predominantly associated with Minimalist music, post-minimalist, drone music, drone and ambient musi ...

— mastering

References

External links

* {{URL, https://sextile.bandcamp.com/album/albeit-living, ''Albeit Living'' on

2017 albums Sextile (band) albums Art punk albums