Photo by Aaron Robert MillerMonths have spent a considerable time woodshedding new tunes for their sophomore record, Black Hats for War. The fruit of their toils ripens this Saturday night at The Know as the band will officially release their new LP, with Portland’s Mujahedeen and The Wild Body opening.
Black Hats for War harkens to the kind of wiry indie melting pots nurtured in the sonic belly of numerous ‘90s stalwarts. The band’s music is well-schooled in the dynamic tensions of Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore, but unafraid of exploding into vibrant, feedback-heavy slammers. The evidence is all over Black Hats for War as an intricate coiling of melodic interplay festoons songs as unabashedly catchy as “Devotion,” before ripping the veil away in noise-rock revelry on incendiary anthems like “Shadowing.”
Song artwork for "Cease" by Aaron Robert MillerSomewhere in between lies “Cease,” a song that again unmasks Months’ thoughtful foundations, allowing a warbling guitar run to guide a sparse, steady rocker that clocks in as the longest on the record. The accompanying artwork for “Cease” is part of an addendum to the record release: Months has also created an album-accompanying book with lyrics and original artwork from guitarist and vocalist Aaron Robert Miller, as well as additional lyrics from songwriter Wilson Vediner.
As the band explains, “The lyrics and artwork have been in process at the same speed and time frame as recording and mixing. The book is a final place to see the collaboration between Wilson and Aaron (since they write lyrics independently). It’s a heavy album with heavy lyrics and concepts that are important to us, and the book is just another tool to document the songs.”
