''Soused'' is a collaborative album by singer Scott Walker and American drone metal band

Sunn O))) Sunn O))) (pronounced "sun") is an American drone metal band formed in 1998 in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. The band is known for its distinctive visual style and slow, heavy sound, which blends diverse genres including doom metal, ...

. Announced in early 2014 by

4AD 4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name Axis Records by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD after the release of th ...

, the album was produced by Walker and Peter Walsh with the help of Mark Warman and released on October 21, 2014. It is the last album Walker released during his lifetime, barring

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

work. 4AD released a music video for the song "Brando", directed by French filmmaker Gisèle Vienne.

Production and recording

Sunn O))) songwriters

Stephen O'Malley Stephen O'Malley (sometimes referred to as SOMA; born July 15, 1974) is an American guitarist, producer, composer, and visual artist from Seattle, Washington, who has conceptualized and participated in numerous drone metal, doom metal, and expe ...

and Greg Anderson had previously contacted Walker about contributing vocals to ''

Monoliths & Dimensions ''Monoliths & Dimensions'' is the sixth studio album by American drone metal band Sunn O))). The album was created and recorded over a period of two years and features the collaborations of composer Eyvind Kang, Australian guitar player Oren A ...

'' in 2009, but Walker declined due to prior engagements. While developing material for his follow up record to 2012's '' Bish Bosch'', Walker reached out to the band. Walker's decision to incorporate drones came about while developing lyrics. As the singer-composer stated, "I could get those gaps, you see, between phrases. Which I usually fill with silence, but now I had the drones." Upon agreeing to collaborate, Walker sent O'Malley and Anderson a series of wordless demos of tracks he produced, alongside Peter Walsh, made entirely with synthesizers. With the synthesizers, Walker directly outlined the instrumental accompaniments that O'Malley and Anderson were to provide via guitar drones. To record Sunn O)))'s guitar drones, the band brought its entire stage equipment, a large collection of amplifiers, to Walker's London studio space. Walker initially wanted to name the album ''Ronronner'', French for "purr", "like the noise a big cat would make"; but O'Malley, who lives in France, believed that French audiences would read it as "too cute". Walker then came up with ''Soused'', with the intended meaning of being submerged in water.

Reception

Track listing

CD and digital editions

#"Brando" – 8:42 #"Herod 2014" – 11:59 #"Bull" – 9:21 #"Fetish" – 9:08 #"Lullaby" – 9:22

Vinyl LP edition

Side one #"Brando" – 8:42 #"Bull" – 9:21 Side two #

"Herod 2014" – 11:59 Side three #

"Fetish" – 9:08 #"Lullaby" – 9:22

Personnel

* Greg Anderson – guitars, percussion guitar on "Bull", lead guitar on "Lullaby" *Tos Nieuwenhuizen – lead guitar (except for "Bull"); moog on "Brando", "Bull", and "Lullaby"; riff guitar on "Fetish" *

– guitars, bass guitar on "Brando" and "Fetish", feedback guitar on "Bull" and "Fetish", lead guitar on "Bull" and "Herod 2014", percussion guitar on "Bull", re-amped hi synth on "Lullaby", sleeve design, type * Scott Walker – vocals, production, composer, drum programming on "Lullaby", mixing

Additional personnel

Dot Allison Dot Allison (born Dorothy Elliot Allison, 17 August 1969, Edinburgh, Scotland) is a Scottish singer and songwriter, known for her contributions to electronic music, most notably as a result of her tenure fronting the band One Dove in the early 1 ...

– backing vocals on "Bull" *Frank Arkwright – mastering *

Guy Barker Guy Jeffrey Barker, (born 26 December 1957) is an English jazz trumpeter and composer. Early life Barker was born in Chiswick, London, the son of an actress and a stuntman. He started playing the trumpet at the age of twelve, and within a year ...

– trumpet (except "Herod 2014") *G'ast Bouschet – cover photo, photography *Andy Findon – saxophone on "Herod 2014" *Peter Gamble – bull whips on "Brando" *Phil Laslett – photography *Liam Nolan – assistant *Simon Saywood – analog technical support *Ian Thomas – drums (except "Herod 2014") * Peter Walsh – co-production, recording, mixing, electronic sound treatment, audio manipulation keyboards fx (except "Lullaby"), drum programming (except "Fetish"), mastering *Sam Walsh – backing vocals on "Bull" *Mark Warman – electronic sound treatment, audio manipulation, keyboards, drum programming on "Brando" and "Herod 2014", shaker on "Fetish", musical direction, orchestration Credits adapted from

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 ...

References

{{Authority control 2014 collaborative albums 4AD albums Albums produced by Peter Walsh Albums produced by Scott Walker (singer) Scott Walker (singer) albums Sunn O))) albums