Idle Heirs - Life Is Violence [Compact disc]

IDLE HEIRS make their Relapse Records debut with Life is Violence. The band, featuring Coalesce vocalist Sean Ingram (making his return to a proper album recording for the first time in over a decade), and acclaimed producer and musician Josh Barber, hail from the Kansas City area, and is a tight knit unit that hums with creativity and revels in the freedom of creating exactly what their hearts desire. For over a decade Ingram’s focus had been elsewhere; due to the prolonged hiatus of Coalesce, music was no longer at the forefront of his artistic endeavors. When events - on both a global and personal level, and specifically, where the two intersect - conspired to bring Ingram to a place where music once again became essential, the seed for IDLE HEIRS was planted.

Rather than the conditions being right for a musical reprise, the conditions had to be all wrong, leaving only one way forward. Having connected with Barber, Ingram already knew who his co-conspirator for this mission would be. Describing himself as “a doer, not a dreamer," Ingram made it clear to Barber that there was an increasing urgency to getting the project off the ground. Barber sequestered himself in a remote part of the Pacific Northwest for eight days, giving himself the space and time to concentrate solely on what would become the blueprint for the debut IDLE HEIRS album.

The resulting album, Life Is Violence, was recorded at Ocean Sound studio in Norway. Indulging themselves in the freedom that came with creating without restriction or expectation, the pair decamped to the icy Norwegian wilderness with five of their collaborators to lay down the eight tracks. The isolation of the studio, and the absence of external pressures allowed for an unparalleled clarity and exacting level of attention to detail. IDLE HEIRS have created a post-metal album that captures a certain vulnerability within its mournful sound.

Thematically, Life Is Violence contemplates the thread of paternal influence from generation to generation - and how it can be disrupted. Ingram examines the impact his father had on his life, whilst simultaneously contemplating his own mortality and what he will pass down to his children. With a determination to ensure that what he leaves behind in the future is markedly different to what he inherited himself, IDLE HEIRS have issued a missive that stands as both a line in the sand and a testament to love.