Wicca Phase Springs Eternal (aka GothBoiClique and Tigers Jaw co-founder Adam McIlwee) has announced a new self-produced EP, Midnight at the Castle Moorlands, due October 25 via Run For Cover (pre-order). The first single is “Venti Iced Americano,” which feels like a bit of a return to Wicca Phase’s “emotional trap” roots, following the wide-ranging self-titled album that he released last year. “I wanted to make the most organic sounding album I could while using electronic production,” Adam says. “I’m always trying to figure out how to immerse the listener even more–whether that’s sonically or lyrically, and for these songs that meant reining things in and grounding them. I didn’t want to keep getting bigger and bigger, I wanted something looser and more lo-fi.”
Adams says the new single “is a depiction of in-between moments and places, where time is both rapid and heavily delayed, and feelings are both forward-looking and nostalgic. For visual references, see Westworld season 2 episode 10 (‘The Passenger’) and issue #20 of Marvel Comics’ Cable (1993).” Its video was made by Wolfdrawn and you can check that out below.
The EP was recorded with engineer Matt Schimelfenig (of Gladie and Three Man Cannon), and Adam says, “For this new EP I ended up recording 15 songs over a couple weeks, a bunch of them were songs that were either leftover from the self-titled or even songs that I’d written and forgotten about or lost. I don’t even really understand how that happened but they just never made it into the studio. I never have a shortage of songs ever, I’m always writing.”
About self-producing, he says, “I wasn’t always a producer. I wasn’t fully comfortable with that side of it until more recently, but I’ve always had this desire to fully oversee a release from start to finish. Recently I think I’ve really understood how I want my songs to sound.”
Wicca Phase has two shows coming up at the moment, both with Pictureplane: Halloween (10/31) at Tubby’s in Kingston, NY; and November 1 at The First Unitarian Church in Philly, also with OLTH and Sun Organ.
Tracklist
1. Puritan Prince of Pain
2. Bells of Life
3. Pure Fields
4. I Know The Raven
5. I Choose You
6. My Name is the Endless Night
7. Venti Iced Americano
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Last year, Adam joined us on the BrooklynVegan podcast to discuss all things Wicca Phase, his time in Tigers Jaw, his time working with the late Lil Peep, and much more. Listen wherever you listen to podcasts.