| HOWLING BELLS announce third album, 'The Loudest Engine'. |
| Written by Shahlin Graves |
| Sunday, 26 June 2011 15:40 |
 HOWLING BELLS will release their third studio album 'The Loudest Engine' in New Zealand on September 12th, 2011. The band recorded their new album in Las Vegas with Mark Stoermer (of The Killers) on production-duties. "It was on the road that Howling Bells first linked with The Killers' Mark Stoermer. Touring together, the two groups bonded over their love of similar music; so, when Howling Bells began planning the recording of their latest project at the tail end of summer 2010, The Killers' bassist was the first person they called. With Stoermer at the dials, Howling Bells worked with a creative spirit they'd not channeled previously. They'd already worked up 30 fresh demos, but in The Killers' Battle Born studio in Nevada, these sketches were fleshed out, given new muscle. The result is 12 songs that burn with a ferocious intensity, clipping garage blues (Charlatan) to end of the world freak outs (The Wilderness) and heart-bruised laments (Into The Sky). This is an album Howling Bells were eager to make." Of the new album, singer/guitarist Juanita Stein has said: "There's a singular sound which is more folk and rock than our last two albums, but it's interpreted in a modern sense. It wasn't a conscious effort to make a '70s tinged record. It was a very natural progression. The album shows that we're 21st century kids making a modern psychedelic record. [It] is our grown up record. The first was about that great initial leap, the second was us exploring different waters. This one is us, all having met at one place, at one time. I think this record will change people's perspectives of the band." Most notably, Howling Bells made the decision to not record anything that they couldn't perform live - in reference to their 2009 electronically-oriented album, 'Radio Wars'. |
