Loop released the Array 1 EP in 2015, and granted that was a 12″ platter, but the last time the outer-dimensional UK psych pioneers released a full-length was 1990. Sonancy, which will be out March 11, 2022, is available to preorder now, including in a limited edition LP and CD that includes bonus remixes by founding member Robert Hampson. Along with his guitar and vocals, Loop boasts The Heads members Hugo Owen Morgan on bass and Wayne Maskel on drums, and guitarist Dan Boyd, and if a studio album from Loop alone isn’t enough to raise your eyebrows in that casual-cool way you have about you, then a Loop studio album with The Heads‘ rhythm section should do the trick nicely.

First single up now. Preorders up now. I don’t mean to press the urgency here — I’m not in the business of selling records — but it’s hard to imagine however many editions of this record currently (pre-)exist won’t be gone in short order.

From the band’s site and social media:

LOOP – Sonancy

New studio album SONANCY is out on March 11 2022. Stream Halo and pre-order the album now at https://loopband.lnk.to/sonancy

All Sonancy Album Pre-orders from the Official Store come with a Free Soundheads Album Club membership. Presale access, online playback sessions and other opportunities are in the works…

Tracklisting:

Side A
1. Interference
2. Eolian
3. Supra
4. Penumbra I
5. Isochrone

Side B
1. Halo
2. Fermion
3. Penumbra II
4. Axion
5. Aurora

“Style wise, it’s incredibly different, going back to thinking about guitars and guitar sounds. Obviously you have to take into consideration things like percussive elements such as drums, which I haven’t been using in my other projects; but this is the mind set that makes up Loop.”

So says Robert Hampson, the indefatigable visionary behind inspirational sonic architects Loop, whose eagerly anticipated fourth LP Sonancy (Latin for “to create noise”) is the perfect document for these strange times. Dynamic, dystopian, righteously angry and unashamedly Loop-ian, it’s an album that marks a vital re-emergence for Hampson and co.

Indeed, with its rich mixture of styles and cadences, Sonancy is the sound of Loop in the 21st century, Hampson’s intense guitar work anchored by propulsive backing in service of songs with clinically dissociative titles such as ‘Eolian’, ‘Supra’, ‘Penumbra’ and ‘Fermion’.

“People who know my music well know that from the last Loop album onwards, my interest in chemistry, science and astronomy have come to the fore,” Hampson elaborates. “I use those titles but I use them in an abstract context. With the cutback, minimalist sound I wanted for this record, I wanted to do that with the lyrics and the titles as well. It’s very immediate. The songs are shorter in length, the lyrics more minimal than ever.

“I’m often asked to print the lyrics but I want people to approach our records with a sense of mystery, so you don’t necessarily know what’s going on. You may call it challenging. I’m influenced by J.G. Ballard and Philip K. Dick to a certain degree. Lyrically, if you listen to it intently, there’s this dystopian outlook. There’s a lot of anger in there. I don’t like seeing the wanton abuse of power, which is what we’re seeing right now and I’m disgusted by it. I wouldn’t say Sonancy is bleak though because I’m one of those people who believes there’s a chance for change. That may be naïve, but I always hope that people will come out of this coma they all seem to be in. I’ve imbued the lyrics with a little bit of hope.”

Hope is a powerful force, one perhaps needed more than ever today. Pandemic lockdowns stretched the making of Sonancy, recorded at long-term Loop soundman Joe Garcia’s Bristol-based studio Joe’s Garage, from an expected couple of weeks to almost a year. Still, if recording was elongated, the experience was made easier by the interplay between the members of what is the most enduring line-up of Loop to date.

“I formed Loop, I’m the sole original member, I’ll just carry on, but the current Loop line-up has been pretty stable for the last six or seven years. We have Wayne [Maskel, drums] and Hugo [Morgan, bass] from The Heads, who a lot of people know, a fantastic rhythm section, and Dan [Boyd] on second guitar, who offered us his services.

“I was very anti-guitar for a long time. You hear progressively through the Main period the guitar fading away. I just felt that it didn’t have any place in what I was sonically trying to do and I didn’t miss it at all. Now, having a guitar in my hands doesn’t bother me anymore as long as I can do something useful with it; and working with the current line-up we have, it’s very enjoyable indeed. Long may it reign.”

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Loop, “Halo” official video

 

Tags: Loop, Loop Sonancy, Sonancy, UK

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