JESSE SYKES AND THE SWEET HEREAFTER SHARE NEW SINGLE “DEAD END POOLS” + COMPANION VIDEO

FOREVER, I’VE BEEN BEING BORN
 OUT NOVEMBER 28

LOS ANGELES, CA – Southern Lord is very pleased to announce that “Dead End Pools”, the new single from the forthcoming full-length Forever, I’ve Been Being Born from Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter, along with its companion video, can be heard and seen everywhere via:
https://youtu.be/8B-7TqJD0U8



Pre-Save Forever, I’ve Been Being Born via:
https://open.spotify.com/album/2eC8U2DZYmIxb9XiNqjmr0
https://music.apple.com/us/album/forever-ive-been-being-born/1833263826?ls=1

Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter’s new LP Forever, I’ve Been Being Born – featuring exquisite contributions from Marissa Nadler – is a suite of masterful, emotive songs centered around the power of Sykes’s transcendent voice and filled with themes of magical thinking, emotional dislocation, death and transformation. Their first new album since 2011’s Marble Son and fifth since 2002. Forever, I’ve Been Being Born will be released on November 28th via Southern Lord in North America and Australasia and via Ideologic Organ in Europe/UK/Asia/South America.

Forever, I’ve Been Being Born presents songs from an open heart, dwelling in a brightness yet deep in the ethereal and melancholic. In the making for ten years, the album centers around the power of Jesse’s transcendent voice, which has never been more beautiful, evocative, and hauntingly intimate. Guitarist Phil Wandscher’s playing masterfully frames these songs with classic and fractured tones, a duet of vulnerability and strength frequently on the edge.

About “Dead End Pools”, Jesse Sykes comments;

“Dead End Pools was written as a love song, a testament to the “endurance test” that is my musical partner Phil Wandscher and our relationship. I always say, we share the same heart.

There was a documentary airing on PBS one night, where they were talking about Pacific salmon spawning in “dead end pools”, before swimming up steam to die. I grabbed my guitar… At the time, Phil was living out of his van, and dare I say, I was holding onto my life and to our musical “apparatus”, for dear life. I think I may have written from the perspective of being dead already, because a part of me was at that time. It had been a tough decade for us both. I wanted to pay homage to the notion that you are what you leave behind. In this case a song. The struggles are just part of the eternal cacophony of existence.

The divine spark, the love, the friendship, always overcame the darkness and difficulties of those days and continues to nourish us. Despite ourselves, we were once again saved through song. Whatever that entity that lives inside music “is”, it found us again and led us back to each other and ourselves.” 

About the video, Sykes adds;

“The video was shot by our friend, musician Mike Antone, who lives and grew up in the mountains and rivers of North Bend, Washington. He brought us into the world of Rattlesnake Lake. A town had once thrived where we now frolic in this footage, that had been overcome by a massive flood at the turn of the last century, most of the building’s remnants submerged beneath the lake. But the mighty tree stumps remain and seem so alive — ancient and magnificent wonders. I love how the video brings them back to life as they are witnessing us, while we search for each other among the ruins.”
 

On Forever, I’ve Been Being Born, Jesse Sykes And The Sweet Hereafter have crafted a work which feels “very much like a eulogy”, a collection of tracks which see Sykes exploring the idea of mortality with a calm acceptance.

Whilst Sykes’ voice has already acted as a guiding light through dark times for others, for Sykes herself, that presence is felt in the form of a chaperone on this record. More specifically, Jesse’s childhood babysitter inspired a motif on the record, “She truly was the person who taught me love,” muses Jesse, “When I think of the moment of death, I often think that it would just be going to her.”

Recording a new album was delayed for years, in the wake of two band members unexpectedly leaving after Marble Son. “Losing our rhythm section was heartbreaking,” she reflects. “It sounds cliche, but we had to grieve that loss, and in doing so, we had to separate ourselves from making music for a while, because dare I say, music was painful at the time. It reminded us of what we’d lost. Bands are like family, and I’d lost my family. So yes, I had to give up music in order to fall in love with music again.

The album title, Forever, I’ve Been Being Born, hints towards this sense of cyclical surrender – “I’ve felt I’m constantly being born and constantly having to die. Or constantly dying in order to be reborn.

We live in a time of collective mourning, and to Sykes, “the lyrics make more sense now than when I was writing them. I think there was some kind of premonition going on… juxtaposed to what’s happening in the country, the emotional climate – this music speaks to the times we are living through.”

The emotional feeling of the record can be summed up in a single line from the title track – “Eternities, they will crumble.” A quiet sense of acceptance runs through the record like a stream meandering towards the sea.

“It is with great pleasure and humility that we bring you, Forever, I’ve Been Being Born.
Listen in the dark.”

“It’s that ancient light that wanders,

Rapt in the splendor of your form,

And to this I will surrender,

Forever, I’ve been being born,

Beneath an overarching,

Melody, so forlorn.”

Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter
Photo credit: Anita Nowacka

A new communal offering from †The Lord† especially for you is here!

†The Lord† w/ Katie Jacoby
“Mayim (Khoshek)”

Mayim (Khoshek) is a new collaborative piece with †The Lord† & violinist Katie Jacoby.
Its roots are from: “The Electrical Secrets of Heaven” demo I was working on in 2023.
I was particularly interested and influenced primarily by two things in particular: WATER & DARKNESS as well as the Who album: Quadrophenia. I became aware of violinist Katie Jacoby from her work with The Who, playing with Exodus (!!!) & her cover of The Wizard by Black Sabbath! Her playing is darkened, seraphic incarnate.

Mayim (Khoshek) is streaming and available to download exclusively via Bandcamp!

Love and Darkness,
†The Lord†

†The Lord† w/ Katie Jacoby - Mayim (Khoshek)

Deaf Club Shares New Single “All Hot Dogs Are In-Bread” via Under The Radar

“All Hot Dogs Are In-Bread” is the sound of a band taking a look at the cruelty and absurdity of the world around us and responding with an unhinged, howling banshee scream. The vocals come through surrounded by buzzsaw guitars and machine-gun drum fills, with the band sounding like a relentless, tearing industrial machine. Sometimes, it all bleeds together in a tremendous blast of noise, while at other moments the band pulls back ever so slightly, bringing out a bit of dynamic pacing before returning to their eardrum-shattering attack. Above all, the band offers a dose of non-stop fury and energy, destroying any sense of quiet or complacency. Ultimately, it feels good to wallow in that anger.

Pearson says of the track, “I’m honestly not even sure where to start with this. The entire album, and seemingly everything I do has a negative slant to it. Without sounding like a chump or a dweeb, this is clearly a mean motherfucker world. I’m exhausted, and all the time. Even with certain privileges, and basic things like clean water, or a roof over my head, I am exhausted by how humans are constantly acting a fool. I see you. We are shitting the bed, and certainly shitting on each other. So this one’s for you, humanity, or I guess lack of it, which is the narcissist equivalent void of something trivial that represents a two-for-one $.99 hot dog at a convenience store that we’ll gladly suck down.”

Read the Under The Radar article:
www.undertheradarmag.com/news/premiere_deaf_club_shares_new_single_all_hot_dogs_are_in_bred

New LP We Demand a Permanent State of Happiness is Out September 19th via Southern Lord and Three One G

DEAF CLUB New Single “All Hot Dogs Are In-Bread”

Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter

Forever, I’ve Been Being Born out
11.28 via Southern Lord / Ideological Organ

“Gentle Chaperone” video premieres at Magnet

LOS ANGELES, CA – Southern Lord Recordings is very pleased to announce that Forever, I’ve Been Being Born, the new full-length recording from Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter, will be released on November 28th, 2025.

The video for the first single from the record, “Gentle Chaperone”, can now be seen everywhere via: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiUYtWRELP4

Massive LEATHER HEARSE axtions this bandcamp Friday

The second digital EP from the Hearse “Burn In Heaven II” is now unleashed!
And like the introductory period of the first installment its being offered for:
PAY WHATEVER THE HELL YOU DESIRE! (*expires Aug. 4th)
**Burn In Heaven I is also pay what you want until 8/4!!

leatherhearsesl.bandcamp.com/album/burn-in-heaven-ii

And check out the video for “Vultures
https://youtu.be/ZHuBeJdRTO8

We’re also beyond stoked to announce that BOTH “Burn In Heaven Eps” & a bonus track are immortalized on black wax!
LEATHER HEARSE- BURN IN HEAVEN-DECALOUGE – Black Vinyl Pre-order!

leatherhearsesl.bandcamp.com/merch
southernlord.com/band/leather-hearse

EU fiends order here:
southernlordeurope.com/band/leather-hearse

†RIDE THE HEARSE† instagram: @leatherhearse

LEATHER HEARSE

A BRUTAL BIRTH OF DARKNESS!

The debut album from OSDM horde: HEDONIST is now officially unleashed!
Scapulimancy” is out stalking and hunting the world!

We have a few copies left of the black vinyl LP
(v.1 limited to 666 units total pressing)
**comes with a 18”x24” poster.
Get your copy:
hedonistsl.bandcamp.com
southernlord.com/band/hedonist

EU FIENDS ORDER HERE:
southernlordeurope.com/band/hedonist

ALSO!!!!!!!!
Hedonist will be supporting CARCASS this fall alongside BRUJERIA and NECROT on the 2025 North American Putrefaction tour!

Tickets on sale now!

Sep 19 – Rochester, NY –
Sep 20 – Toronto, ON –
Sep 22 – Columbus, OH –
Sep 23 – Grand Rapids, MI –
Sep 24 – Indianapolis, IN –
Sep 26 – Denver, CO –
Sep 27 – Fort Collins, CO –
Sep 29 – Mesa, AZ –
Sep 30 – Las Vegas, NV –

Track Premiere Deaf Club “Crap Circles”

From the forthcoming new Deaf Club album “We Demand A Permanent State of Happiness” is the track “Crap Circles”! It’s loud and obnoxious via Decibel magazine right now!

Deaf Club vocalist Justin Pearson had this to say about the track:

“I get bummed on myself for the lyrics I write and how they are always seeped in negativity. I don’t want to say the negative stuff I do, but I have no other artistic option. Not only do I have little faith in humans at this point, but the constant blanket of stress and anxiety from the sheer stupidity of people in modern society warrants the words I write. The play on words with the title ties into aliens, and how if we were to be officially visited, or at least abducted, we could collectively throw out all the bullshit dogma that humans still seem to embrace, such as religion, the excessive ego, the rampant disrespect for one another as well as the planet in general, and the fact that we’ve managed to shove our heads so far up our asses we miss everything that actually matters.”

DEAF CLUB – “We Demand A Permanent State of Happiness” is to be released Sep. 19th via Southern Lord & Three One G Records.

pre-orders for the vinyl & CD as well as more info is here:
southernlord.com/band/deaf-club/
southernlordeurope.com/band/deaf-club/
deafclub31g.bandcamp.com/album/we-demand-a-permanent-state-of-happiness
threeoneg.com/artists/deaf-club

DEAF CLUB - photo by Andy Wilcox

NEW SOUTHERN LORD RELEASE!!

DEAF CLUB – “We Demand a Permanent State of Happiness

Deaf Club is announcing the release of their second LP, We Demand a Permanent State of Happiness, to be released by Southern Lord and Three One G Records on Sept. 19th.

Deaf Club continues their scathing indictment of society with their second full-length album, being released on Southern Lord and Three One G: We Demand a Permanent State of Happiness. Fast wit and faster blast beats are mainstays of the band, but there is also a sense of growth. This is their strongest songwriting yet, incorporating more hooks and good old-fashioned moments to mosh while staying as weird as ever. Raygun guitar riffs and unexplainable sounds abound. Justin Pearson, Brian Amalfitano, Scott Osment, and Jason Klein excel at inciting emotion in the face of apathy and voicing disgust amid a world rapidly burning.

The first offering from the album comes in the form of the rager: “Nihilism For Dummies
Check out a video of the song (with some †unholy† guest appearances) here:


pre-order the album here!:
deafclub31g.bandcamp.com/album/we-demand-a-permanent-state-of-happiness
southernlord.com/band/deaf-club

And EU fiends can order here:
southernlordeurope.com/band/deaf-club

SUNN O))) Announce Shoshin (初心) Duo European tour

SUNN O))) are pleased to announce the second live actions of 2025: a three-week European tour in October and November, entering around our performance at the Venice Biennale of Music, curated by Caterina Barbieri. This tour will bring us to cities SUNN O))) have not performed in previously: Sofia, Belgrade, Thessaloniki, Skopje, as well as strongholds like Brussels, a French appearance in Lyon, favourites Zagreb, Torino, a touch of Scandinavian brightness in Århus and Malmö and ending in Utrecht with our long-term allies Le Guess Who.

SUNN O))) will perform as Shoshin (初心) Duo, founders/guitarists Stephen O’Malley & Greg Anderson will perform as a duo immersed in profound valve amplification, spectral harmonics, distortion and volume—pure and primaeval riffs of temporality, massively heavy structures of sound pressure. Witness a live experience of physical sound, fog and glacial maximalism.

Our amazing road crew will join us: Pete Stahl, Masco, Chris Fullard, Anne Weckström, Torben Utecht, Piotr Kimzal and Pascal Thönnißen.

We hope to meet you there… we hail you for your interest and support.
SUNN O)))

SUNN O)))
Shoshin (初心) Duo
Europe : Autumn 2025

13/10/25 – HALLE D GRAZ AT – tickets
14/10/25 – DURER KERT BUDAPEST HUN – tickets
15/10/25 – KINO SC ZAGREB HR – tickets
17/10/25 – CLUB JOY STATION SOFIA BG – tickets
18/10/25 – PRINCIPAL CLUB THESSALONIKI GR – tickets
19/10/25 – GAGARIN 205 ATHENS GR – tickets
21/10/25 – MKC SKOPJE MK – tickets
22/10/25 – DRUGSTORE BELGRADE SR – tickets
24/10/25 – VENICE MUSIC BIENNALE VENICE IT – tickets
26/10/25 – AUDIODROME TORINO IT – tickets
27/10/25 – BACKSTAGE WERK MUNICH DE – tickets
28/10/25 – REITHALLE STRASSE E DRESDEN DE – tickets
30/10/25 – NUIT SONORES @ LE SUCRE LYON FR – tickets
01/11/25 – BOTANIQUE – LES NUITS WEEKEND BRUSSELS BE – tickets
03/11/25 – VOXHALL ÅRHUS DK – tickets
04/11/25 – PLAN B MALMÖ SE – tickets
05/11/25 – UEBEL @ GEFAERLICH HAMBURG DE – tickets
06/11/25 – LE GUESS WHO UTRECHT NL – tickets 

Show tickets go on sale on Friday 27th June at 11am CET.

SOUTHERN LORD ALBUM RELEASE ANNOUNCEMENT!  5/16/25

Hedonist in conspiracy with Southern Lord launch their debut full length album “Scapulimancy”. Old school death metal on a timeless warpath strewn with familiar and unknown terrors beyond.

Southern Lord is beyond stoked to announce that we will be releasing the debut album from Victoria, BC. Old School Death Metal band: Hedonist.
Hedonist brings forth a ferocious exhibition of power amidst morbid undercurrents of disaster. Timelessly in the vein of Bolt Thrower, Nihilist, Entombed and Dismember where death takes bearing on the facade of life.

The Lord was completely blown away by their “Sepulchral Lacerations” demo (https://hedonistdeathmetal.bandcamp.com/album/sepulchral-lacerations-demo) and are really honored to be working with the band on their brutal debut album! The very first track we will be unleashing from the “Scapulimancy” album is called “Execution Wheel” and is streaming//available to purchase for download exclusively from bandcamp! Vinyl pre-order information will be made in the not so distant future.

hedonistsl.bandcamp.com/album/scapulimancy

For more info on this horde:

https://southernlord.com/band/hedonist/
https://southernlordeurope.com/band/hedonist/
https://www.instagram.com/hedonistdeathmetal

Hedonist band logo
Hedonist band photo