The riveting New York-based trio Occurrence has a double album by the name of “Slow Violence” slated for release April 7th, 2023. The album is an immersive 22 track record that is to cover the spectrum of their collective experiences, from traumatic to ecstatic, as the band has described it. A prime example of this interesting contrast comes by way of their upcoming single, “Fudge,” dropping January 17th, in comparison to the first single released in support of the album, “Heels Over Head,” that was released a week ago, December 13th.
Where “Heels Over Head” was a boastful, enthusiastic electro-pop love song, “Fudge” is a salacious, industrial-sounding, ambient-noise banger. Mixing Engineer Kiri Stensby had commented that the drum programming reminded her of Trent Reznor, which totally steals my thunder in this case as my first impression upon hearing the beat too was that it reminded me of a gritty Nine Inch Nails song initially. I’d also offer that it vibed with me a bit like one of my all-time favorites, Garbage. The band is comprised of Ken Urban (electronics, synth, & beats), Cat Hollyer (vocals, flute), and Johnny Hager (vocals).
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Combing back through the band’s body of work, they always seemed expressionist to me. They have some heavy vibing performances uploaded on their YouTube channel from a performance at M.I.T. definitely worth checking out. When you see what they project live in conjunction with their electronic sound, you really get a good representation of the cool aesthetic they are projecting.
Lights, ambiance, and a sonic intensity. With “Fudge,” as well as the whole album, each member is exploring deeper, more expressive contributions as they’ve grown closer and comfortable with each other time. In the case of “Fudge,” Ken had even left studio banter from the sessions in the track to demonstrate Cat’s bashfulness about some of the things she’d written and sang.
The name of the album is one I found quite interesting as well. Urban describes the arch of the concept as such:
Making private things public, about the ‘slow violence’ that accrues over the course of our lives
Ken Urban on what the band was “primarily concerned with” when making the album
And an even more interesting and important tidbit surrounding the album’s name and concept, Urban elaborates:
The term ‘slow violence’ comes from environmental studies. It describes ecological harm that happens imperceptibly in a community; you only realize that it’s happening once it’s too late. That feels to us like an apt metaphor for the things we’re singing about on this album.
All in all, the new single leaves me with a piqued curiosity for the album. I enjoy both singles released so far and am fascinated by the contrast in approach. It will be interesting to listen to all that they’ve immersed themselves in for the double album. The band has benefited from lots of coverage on their work so far from podcasts to radio shows to appearing on BBC and the Tribeca Festival. “Slow Violence” is sure to keep the pace up for them in that respect.
Don’t forget to support this project and follow Occurrence on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, SoundCloud, YouTube, Apple Music, and Spotify. You can also visit their official website. If you enjoy their music and are able to provide monetary support, you might consider downloading it on Bandcamp.
It also helps to stream and share their music; you can obviously find it in the following Playlists: Less Than 1,000 Followers, Fresh Singles, Indie Only, Alterindie State Of Mind, Sickest & Dopest, and Unknown But Essentials!
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This coverage was created via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
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