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Blackout Summer

by Dusted

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    This is the standard version but oh boy, it looks dreamy on this hazy, smokey clear vinyl. I personally prefer it to the ltd early bird version- but you know, this one is less rare. ALSO, I can not sell this in Canada. For Canadians please purchase through Royal Mountain.

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1.
Seasons 05:23
I already saw the movie. It no longer moves me. I’m telling you the story started to bore me. I already know just how it happens. You’re gonna lose me. We wore the night right down to the edge of a knife ’til we cut the daylight clean out of our lives. I already know just how it happens. You’re gonna lose me. After the rain when summer came you and I were finally free again. But the knife grew dull and you grew cold and there was nothing left for you to hold. I already know just how it happens. I already know just how it happens. You’re gonna lose me. After the rain when summer came you and I were finally free again. But the knife grew dull and you grew cold and there was nothing left for you to hold. Was it real? Was it a dream, an image on a movie screen? And when it ends a winter wind resets itself and plays it back again. I already know. I already know.
2.
There’s no ledge to coax you from, soothing words to bring you home. There’s no sacrificial kill. There’s no backwoods ritual. There’s no grave to dig you from, evil curse to be undone. There’s no backwoods ritual. There’s no sacrificial kill. There’s no ledge to coax you from.
3.
All I Am 04:22
All I am, draining sand, radio static, the second hand. I waited in the parking lot. I kept the engine on. I got caught up in someone else's train of thought. Hey, cut out from work early. You've done all you could do. I waited by the exit sign. They come and go they pass me by. You caught me in the corner of your eye. Hey, cut all your ties. You've done all you could do. You've done all you could do.
4.
Cut Corners 03:44
You're always trying to find the shortest path, the dotted line. You cut corners… draw me a circle. Am I where I started from? Just a moment and then it's gone. Was it worth it? We break the surface. You cut corners… draw me a circle. Was it worth it… to break the surface?
5.
Dead eyes, they got nothing left inside. That doesn't mean they got nothing to hide. That doesn't mean they got nothing to hide. Say that you can never tell a lie. Doesn't mean you can tell what is right. Doesn't mean you can tell what is right. That's all I... ever used to get. And that's all I… give to you. Divide, did it already pass you by? Never too late to decide. Never too late to decide. Daylight dissolves into night. It doesn't mean you're gonna make it right. It doesn’t mean you're gonna make it right. You get used to it. That's all I... ever used to get. And that's all I… give to you It doesn't mean you're gonna make it right. Are you on the other side? That's all I... used to see of the light. And that's all I give to you.
6.
Headlights, no control, caught in a coma but you would never know. Hey now, it comes so slow. Is this the collision that we were bracing for? What’s the hurry, the big idea? You can close your eyes but it will not disappear. Could all be a coma but you would never know. Daylight slowly comes. You’re just the collision that I recover from. What’s the hurry, the big idea? You can close your eyes but it will not disappear.
7.
No Prison 04:30
A reflection captured in your eyes. Its vacant promise under neon lights. There’s a black cloud coming on. It’s a blackout summer. There’s no sentence that could keep me from you. There’s no prison that could hold me like you do. There’s a black cloud coming on. It’s a blackout summer. There’s a black cloud coming on. It’s a blackout summer.
8.
Hey, it’s been a good run, five hundred miles to your door. Hey, it’s not so simple, exactly five hundred and four. I’d easily drive five hundred more. Hey, it’s not so tragic. Don’t drag the rain down to LA. Hey, don’t call it a habit. Every bridge you cross washes away. I just gotta know, either you make this home or build a new one alone. I just gotta know… that you won’t… ever let me go. Hey, it’s been a good run, five hundred miles to your door. Hey, it’s not so tragic, exactly five hundred and four. I’d easily drive five hundred more.
9.
All of a sudden I am drifting again. Woke up in pieces, blown by the wind. I must’ve missed something. Start over again. Never gonna come crawling when you call. I just wait in the dark. But you don't call at all. You just say… “Lay your tired talons down, and sink your teeth into some part of me now." Never gonna come crawling when you call. I just wait in the dark. But you don't call at all. You just say… “Tell me I don't know you at all and terrify me". Hey my mind just won’t realign. Broke in so many pieces, When you’re waiting for the sun? You can start it all over but I’m never gonna come crawling when you call. I just wait in the dark. But you don't call at all. When you're ready you will know. You’ll leave it in the hall. The outline of a wolf leans against the wall. It just says….

about

As one of the founding members of the noisy electronic group Holy Fuck, Brian Borcherdt has spent years making unhinged dance music and touring relentlessly as the band’s envelope-pushing sound developed. Behind the scenes, however, Borcherdt was writing songs of his own that branched out in dramatically different directions than his main gig. At a low key hometown show during a holiday break, Dusted was born as an almost total antithesis to Holy Fuck’s bomb-dropping sound.

Standing alone with a guitar, and singing through a crackling guitar amp, Borcherdt’s solo songs were minimal, floating and wrapped in a soft but troubled haze. The room was held for a moment in that haze, a crowded chatty bar unexpectedly hushed by this strange ambience being shared for the first time. If Brian’s work in Holy Fuck represented a reckless night out, Dusted was the somber comedown the morning after.

Soon, a debut record, Total Dust, materialized and a live configuration of Dusted spent much of the next year on the road supporting Great Lake Swimmers, Perfume Genius and A Place To Bury Strangers. In addition to steady touring, Dusted also made a cameo on screen in Jean-Marc Vallée's 2014 film Wild.

All the while, Borcherdt was constantly writing new material and working the new songs into the sets, ultimately ending up with an album’s worth of songs by the time tour was winding down.

Though the band was still buzzing with the energy of playing live every night, they opted for a different approach when it came time to record the new songs. Rather than the loose, live energy that gelled on Total Dust, this time Dusted entered a studio and built their songs on quantized rhythms, overzealous overdubs, digital plug-ins and an entirely more polished production style.

“Looking back, it was probably the stupidest idea possible!,” Borcherdt said of the sessions, laughing at how lifeless they came out for a band that had been killing the same songs in front of audiences weeks before. While technically precise, something in the flawless tracks felt sterile.

“We just couldn’t find that haze.” Borcherdt said. Ultimately the sessions were scrapped and the band started again from scratch. Over the next stretch of months, progress on the album moved in fits and starts. The project re-assembled as a full band with Anna Edwards on guitar, Loel Campbell on drums, and (occassionally) Anna Ruddick on bass. Songs were pieced together in various studios whenever breaks in Brian’s increasingly busy schedule with Holy Fuck allowed. As if that wasn't enough, he was also working on new sounds with Doug MacGregor of The Constantines and Alex Edkins of Metz in their band LIDS, making his already hyperactive musical world that much busier.
In spite of all the variables that went into making the album, Blackout Summer is an amazingly consistent and emotionally focused statement. Each song creates its own world of texture and narrative, and all nine of these worlds interlock with the same strange, hazy emotion.

Album opener “Seasons” sets the tone for the album’s twilight glow with a protracted, dreamy unraveling of chiming guitar lines and wistful vocals, all building in a slow burn. A far cry from the overproduced first drafts of the album, this final version captures the band playing live in a cramped makeshift basement studio in Toronto, bringing a necessary human touch to a song about restlessly watching love turn cold.

Elsewhere, the wintery “Cut Corners” hangs solemnly before disintegrating into a wash of ghostly tape echoes. Conversely, upbeat lo-fi burners like “Backwoods Ritual” and “Dead Eyes” channel Dusted’s experimental energy into catchy guitar pop that feels undeniably alive, almost breathing.

Blackout Summer winds through floating ambience and dark, moody rockers, but every disparate moment somehow feels connected. The vibe is warm and intimate, but always from a distance. There’s a sense of searching that drifts throughout but is never communicated overtly. Dusted’s fuzzy landscapes, dream-like production and buzzing melodies all congeal, burying Borcherdt’s twisted take on pop under layers of that all-important haze.

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released April 6, 2018

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Dusted Canning, Nova Scotia

Brian Borcherdt aka Dusted is best known as founding member of the Polaris Prize-shortlisted electro-experimental band Holy Fuck.
This project serves as a vehicle for more traditional songwriting, although the sound retains many of the experimental elements he’s become known for. Dusted III offers a meditation on change and rebirth that all of us can relate to at this moment.
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