Canadian progressive rock duo Crown Lands has garnered significant acclaim in recent years. Debuting with a self-titled album in 2020, then following it in 2023 with Fearless and now crowning that with a pair of new albums.
The Juno Award-winning group – made up of vocalist and drummer Cody Bowles and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Comeau – having signed to InsideOutMusic, issue a pair of ambitious instrumental albums titled Ritual I & Ritual II – Available for streaming now, a limited 2LP vinyl edition, will bring both Ritual releases together as of 3rd October.
Both albums are layered with drums, synthesisers, and assorted percussion to create a complex tapestry of music unlike anything they have created before.
Comeau commented: “The Ritual project highlights a completely different side of Crown Lands. While the electric side of the band is full of bluster and drama, the Rituals show a more contemplative and meditative side of our music, and serve as world-building albums for the main storyline of our next album.”
Bowles added: “Ritual hopes to illustrate our primal connectedness to the natural world, and suggests a way to listen to that inner awareness that watches all without doing. In easing one’s mind and stilling the thoughts and chatter when listening to this record, we strive to catalyse a deeper connectedness to the present moment that is as peaceful as it is beautiful.”
“Crown Lands are one of the most exciting young bands in our genre and we are proud and excited to be releasing their new albums. We see a very bright future for these young Canadians!” said InsideOutMusic label-head Thomas Waber, while Bowles and Comeau discussed the meaning behind Ritual in the video featured below.
Ritual I was recorded during the uncertain period of the pandemic. With the band unable to enter the studio or tour, Bowles and Comeau looked for a creative outlet.
“I suppose this record became our act of defiance against stagnation, in a time when so many familiar lights around us flickered out in the deafening silence. It was a glimmer in our darkness,” claimed Bowles. “Ritual I was made during a tumultuous time in our lives, alongside producer Justin Meli in our little B Room at Chalet Recording Studios. It served as a reprieve from the upending haze of the pandemic, far from the high-pressure studio sessions that typically accompanied the pursuit of our mainstream sound.
“We wanted to record this one ourselves as our own decompression from the mechanical precision of the Fearless sessions with David Bottrill. The only constant between the two was the ritual of coming together under a different pretence to the norm—not to fulfil a specific expectation or outer pressure, but rather to create solely with the joy of creation in our hearts. In a special way, this record was truly our own in a way none other had been before.
“It felt liberating to be so free with our creativity, and it was the next logical step for Kev and I, both in musicality and in scope: more textures, more strings, more complexity. We hope you enjoy these two journeys into unknown realms, and uncover the mysteries of the Ritual for yourself,” he concluded.
With both albums featuring artwork by Justyna Koziczak, Ritual I became available for streaming here and features the tracks: ‘Dawn’, ‘The Storm’, ‘Vigil’, ‘Dusk’ and ‘The Serpent’. Now in August Ritual II can be streamed here and features the tracks ‘Tempest’, Respite’, ‘Shadows Under Moonlight’, ‘Mirage’, ‘In The Reeds‘ and ‘Celestial Marsh’.
