On Monday, March 29, I decided that it had been far too long since I released anything, and I was going to put something out by Friday, no matter what. These songs were written sometime last fall, but didn't have any vocals or lyrics for them, so I sat down this week to actually record them and push myself creatively. They represent a change in sound for me, a push toward the outer reaches of what I think metal and grind can be. I've been listening to a lot of East and South African music recently, and I'm incredibly inspired by the amazing work being done in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Angola, and South Africa by a new generation of artists in electronic music. I'm drawn to the menacing grooves of Gqom, the bright chaos of Singeli, the irresistible sensuality of Batida, and the inexplicable experimentalism of labels like Nyege Nyege Tapes and Hakuna Kulala, and I can't help but try to emulate some of that energy myself. I incorporated some of the grooves that I learned from these music styles, and I tried to do so with as much reverence as possible, but just know that if you enjoy the music I put out, you're doing a disservice to your ears if you don't also go support artists like Duma, Griffit Vigo, HHY & The Macumbas, and many others like them. I've also taken great inspiration from projects that bring fresh ideas to composition and structure, like the minimalism of Cryptae and the maximalism of Imperial Triumphant, both of which I drew from on these tracks. I wanted to pai