Long Island melodic hardcore/emo vets Crime In Stereo have announced their first album in 13 years. It’s due October 27 via Pure Noise and called House & Trance, but don’t let the title fool you into thinking Crime In Stereo have gone electronic. Lead singles “Hypernormalisation” and “Books Cannot Be Killed By Fire” have that same tuneful energy as Crime In Stereo’s classics, and they sound especially fired up on these tracks. Watch the videos for both songs below.
The album was produced by guitarist Gary Cioni and drummer Brett Romnes (the latter also currently of The Movielife and I Am the Avalanche). The bio for the album calls it “a record that couldn’t exist had all those years not happened, had the world not taken a turn down an even darker path than it was already on,” adding that the songs are “not just reflective of these times—the effects of late-stage capitalism and neoliberalism, the encroaching dominance of fascism within the US political system, the increasing alienation and isolation that comes from the purposeful eradication of community by corporate politics—but of the immense human collateral damage that comes with all of that.”
Vocalist Kristian Hallbert adds:
It’s so exhausting being a reasonable human being in 2023 in the United States of America. It’s exhausting looking around and being like, ‘What’s the fucking matter with you people?’ I’m not taking ludicrous positions on extreme political outlooks. It’s just like, ‘Hey, can you stop tearing those babies away from their parents and putting them in cages?’ Is that an outlandish position to take? Can people have healthcare? Can people not get shot in school or in church or at the goddamn mall or in a movie theater? But you say things like that and then other people are like, ‘Oh, you’re taking a political position.’ It’s so fucking insulting on a human level.
Guitarist Alex Dunne also offers:
It’s something artists in America have been talking about for 70 years, but it’s only getting worse. We’re not moving towards the solution. We’re moving towards worse outcomes. Is that feeling of resignation what I want people to take away from this record? No, I wouldn’t advocate for that. But capturing it, and trying to express that condition, is what this record feels like. It’s my feeling of having bought a house and having a child and being in that classic, post-modern, middle-aged, suburban ennui, where all your energy and focus basically has to go to maintaining your bank loan so you can still possess and live in this house so your fucking family isn’t out on the street. But that feels like you have these blinders on and are in a trance, just focused on the constant anxiety and stress of your living situation.
Crime In Stereo have a few upcoming shows: they open for Gorilla Biscuits at Brooklyn Monarch on September 8, they play the free Indieplaza at Rockefeller Center on September 9, and they play The Fest in Gainesville.
Tracklist
1. Pensioner
2. Superyacht Ecopark
3. Rogue Wave
4. Hypernormalisation
5. We Can Build You
6. Goliathette
7. Books Cannot Be Killed By Fire
8. House / Trance
9. Autotourniquet
10. Skells