High Marks, hailing from Forest Grove, Oregon, announces the release of a new single, “Audible Impact”, from the album Rake Me Over the Coals Tonight. The gothic industrial take on minimalist post-punk results in a fuzzy, stomping repetition augmented with an eerie, hypnotic vocal. Sounding like staticky transmissions from another dimension, Audible Impact stays true to its title. It’s unsure what’s being uttered, but the urgency of spirit still shines through, leaving us unsettled.
The track came together with the talents of David Mansfield (Stranded) and SIMNs (downers.), Travis Kuhlman (Yellow Bulb., DUG) and Reila (Obsidian PrintCo). The quartet built the sound gradually through multiple sessions in multiple studios, with the lion’s share of the work completed near High Marks’ new home in rural Oregon.
The mysterious, surreal video created by TJ Blake illustrates the confusing dissonance of the song, with dreamlike landscapes accessible only in the subconscious. Doorways, disturbing foliage, psychedelic shapes – there’s no narrative, only existence in the eternal now.
Watch below:
Rake Me Over The Coals Tonight references High Marks’ tendency to stay up all night criticizing himself. The album explores unyielding, distressing topics that eke into our nightmares: police brutality, personal accountability, and intensity of feelings… all through a diverse balancing act of industrial din and minimal synth.
High Marks has also remixed tracks for Old Time Relijun, ATL’s Stranded, and the Portland band Freeyons, and simultaneously worked on the production of multiple Yellow Bulb. albums and the debut LP of NYC duo Certain Times. Having released cassettes on labels as diverse as Phage Tapes, Skrot Up, and Wool-E-Tapes, and appeared on compilations for DKA and Fixed Rhythms labels, High Marks brought a wide swath of influences into the recording of these songs.
Listen below:
Rake Me Over the Coals Tonight is out now. Order Here.
Follow High Marks:
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