We get an exclusive premiere of John The Revelator (feat. Vince DiFiore) from Sacramento-based  experimental Post Rock band NÛS.

BLURRING THE BOUNDARIES

Many may be familiar with Sacramento-based post-rock band, NÛS after numerous releases through SubRosa in the 90’s, as well as after collaborating with artists like Bill Laswell, Buckethead and Charles Hayward.

Featuring Percy Howard (vocals, lyrics), Stephen Sullivan (guitars, synthesizer), Richard Kazanjian (bass), and Sean Sullivan (drums), Nûs continue to blur the boundaries between experimental rock, art rock, blues, soul, and progressive music on Shapes Of Longing and the single John The Revelator.

“It became apparent in the refining of some of the songs such as Reaper, John The Revelator and Left Behind’that the mood of the songs called for slide guitar to invite an element of the blues in,” says Percy Howard. “‘John The Revelator is in fact a deconstruction and reconstruction of a Blind Willie Johnson song, originally written in the 1920s. It was so enjoyable to bring in this spooky blues mood into the songs, dark Gary Clark Jr.-type elements.”

He continues: “John The Revelator was likely penned by Blind Willie Johnson prior to 1920. Nûs uses this song to formally blend their progressive art rock with a spooky, dark blues that deeply takes the song to church. This prophetic gospel blues sets the table for….more. Steve Sullivan’s soul-cracking solo invites in the spirit while shooing off the demons. New Nûs at their finest.” 

CREATING SHAPE OF LONGING

Looking back on the album’s creation, Percy Howard recalls how Shapes Of Longing came together. “Shapes of Longing was birthed in about 8 months through Nûs’ usual creative process of building entire songs out of snippets, hooks, or musical phrases that have been carried around in our heads (like the opening bass hooks for Fissure and The Reaper that Rich brought in), and sometimes entire compositions (like Steve writing Left Behind and bringing it in for refining by the band).”

At The Barrier: Facebook / X / Instagram