ARCADEA, Featuring MASTODON's BRANN DAILOR, Shares 'The Exodus Of Gravity' Title Track

On August 22, ARCADEA will return with "The Exodus Of Gravity" (Relapse Records),a futuristic synth-rock odyssey unfolds in a world where gravity no longer holds us down and emotion rises in its place.

With Brann Dailor (MASTODON) stepping into the lead vocalist role and João Nogueira joining Core Atoms on synths, the newly revamped trio dives headfirst into a new kind of psychedelia: groovy, danceable, and emotionally resonant. "Up is down, down is up," says Atoms.

The second preview of "The Exodus Of Gravity", in the form of the collection's title track, is available below.

Atoms shares the story behind the song: "It's the future we find ourselves in, the once fertile terrain of New Arcadea seems barren, with the exception of lifeless robots and silent spores. Anxiety, doubt, curiosity and wonder propel the intrepid synthetic-observer through an odyssey. Slowly integrating with the spores, new senses are born within. A recognition of the possibility of planetary life ignites. A changing code yields a new mission deep within: life. Through the spores, a new, powerful, sentience is gained. New senses reveal themselves as well as new anxieties... While a great metamorphosis is happening on the surface, just above, a hungry black hole looms, ingesting gravity, and the fundamental forces of the universe. Reality in reverse."

The band previously previewed the 12-song collection with "Fuzzy Planet" and its mesmerizing intergalactic, Bryan Bankovich-directed video. The clip transported viewers to "Prom 5039: A Nightmare To Remember", where synths swirl, the Prom Queen is a little green, different alien species flirt, and love blooms.

"It's about that first fuzzy feeling you get when you fall in love," said Atoms. "Our lead character is recognizing that the spore has gotten in them and they're starting to change. They're awakening to all the beauty that's around."

"There's something really hopeful and uplifting about it from a musical aesthetic," added Dailor. "The object was to get a little more dancey and a little more fun. As much as we liked how proggy the last ARCADEA album was, it reminded me of what I already do in MASTODON. We wanted to explore the idea of doing something different. So, I wanted to really concentrate on groove and dance and embracing the electronic aspect of it."

Recorded at West End Sound, in the basement of MASTODON's practice facility, Ember City, "The Exodus Of Gravity" was produced by the members of ARCADEA and was engineered by Tom Tapley. The collection is available on a variety of limited-edition vinyl colorways, cassette, and digitally.

"The Exodus Of Gravity" track listing:

01. Dark Star
02. Exodus Of Gravity
03. Fuzzy Planet
04. Lake Of Rust
05. Gilded Eye
06. 2 Shells
07. Galactic Lighthouse
08. Starry Messenger
09. Silent Spores
10. The Hand That Holds The Milky Way
11. Sparks
12. Planet Pounder

ARCADEA is Core Atoms (synthesizers, guitars, bass, vocoder, Taurus pedals, mellotron, Hammond, theremin, samples),Brann Dailor (vocals, drums, acoustic percussion, toy piano),and João Nogueira (synthesizers). The Atlanta-based trio released its self-titled debut album in 2017. Atoms and Dailor first played together in the cult prog-funk outfit GAYLORD.

In a 2017 interview with Revolver, Dailor stated about working with Core Atoms on ARCADEA's debut: "I was excited because he's an interesting player with an interesting take on music. I've known him for so long, and we have been friends forever. He's always someone I desire to do something with, but not necessarily GAYLORD. It was the perfect opportunity to play with him again because he had these three or four songs finished and was like, 'Check 'em out!' I didn't have to get too deep into it with my involvement because, honestly, MASTODON takes up a lot of my time. I didn't have to be as intense about it. With MASTODON, I want it to be perfect. I want ARCADEA to be great, too, but if there's an opportunity to do something musical that's really cool but have someone else doing the majority of the work, I'm all about it. I don't have the time to devote to another project that's going to take up a lot of my time. I was more than happy to hand over the reins and then come in, play drums and chime in with vocal ideas and stuff. I got more involved as time went on. After about three years of going in the studio here and there, we had enough for a full album, so it was like, 'Might as well just put this thing out!'"

Photo credit: Calina Walker