Scarred For Life: Clear Vinyl LP
UOH011LPS1Pre-Order Item. Release Date Subject to Change.
Label: Unheard of Hope
Release Date: 1st November
A soul-searching album, recorded in Joshua Tree on analog tape but sound and pulling in elements of r&b, dub and jazz but coming across like a great songwriter album, with their heart to bare.
Military Genius (aka songwriter/producer Bryce Cloghesy) today announced his new album Scarred for Life will be released November 1st, 2024 via Unheard of Hope. The follow-up to his atmospheric 2020 debut Deep Web, Scarred for Life is a genre-flexing mix of bass-heavy R&B, spaced dub, and jazz that is newly grounded within a more traditional rock framework and centered on lyricism. Lead single “Darkest Hour”–out now alongside a self-directed video filmed near his new desert home in Joshua Tree, California–reflects a head first journey into the unknown. "’Darkest Hour’ encapsulates the feeling of being swept away by time, into an endless night,” says Cloghesy. “There is a certain melancholy in leaving the past behind, dwelling on simpler, antiquated ways of life as we are pushed forward. This message is poignant on a personal level–becoming a father has led me to contemplate my own childhood, witnessing a purity of emotion prior to self-awareness. This applies to a broader collective consciousness too, as the march of progress fundamentally alters our shared experience. It's all about embracing the journey, stepping beyond the point of no return, and facing the future."The starting point for Scarred for Life–written, recorded, engineered, and produced by Cloghesy–was to try and make sense of ‘the toll taken by a life lived, and the complex beauty of a reality that can never be repeated or replicated.’
Cloghesy faced his creative crosswords by embracing raw acoustic sounds and a ‘human-first’ approach to the recording process. Ideas were formulated and initially recorded onto cassette tape with minimal editing. Blemishes and artifacts were welcomed, adding to the record’s realism and personal character. “I found excitement in creating something naturalistic and hand-made, flawed by its own humanity,” he says. Cloghesy describes the process as “extremely dogmatic and physically demanding but worth it, as something really passionate, poetic, and romantic came out in the final recordings.”’
Thematically, the album can be approached on a number of planes. The title refers to a gruesome episode in his life in 2012, when he had a near-death experience after falling through a window. “I tore up my left arm real good and never slowed down to process the trauma,” says Cloghesy. Add a debilitating series of panic attacks and depressive episodes to the charge sheet—followed by several significant life changes like a move from Canada to California, getting married, and becoming a father—and it’s clear the record has a lot of heavy lifting to do. “It took some time to realize that I had been working tirelessly for years, white-knuckling life without any tools to process stress or trauma. So there are many lyrics about that mental health journey, learning to cope and accept,” Cloghesy explains. This is ultimately, and primarily, a compassionate record and a giving one: Cloghesy found “a powerful catharsis putting these experiences into words,” and the music reflects and celebrates a greater understanding and appreciation of how life can be lived.
The Mojave Desert is maybe the key to the record's soul. Cloghesy has been living in Joshua Tree since 2023, shortly after the birth of his son. A lot of the music feels sunbaked, and the low key approach to arrangements may give a sense of being awestruck by the vast space and beauty of his new surroundings. The quietly subversive aspects of the compositions are deeply embedded, with recurring themes popping up across the work, for those who look closely enough.
While Scarred for Life is a predominantly quiet and reflective album, it’s also full of soul and positivity. It’s expertly crafted to be: Cloghesy can make a song suddenly twist on an unexpected chord change, or introduce an instrument that heralds a change in emotional weather. The music constantly plays between darkness and lightness, tension, and release. The last track, fittingly, is called “Into the Unknown,” a swelling lament boasting a beautiful, lifting melody line. It sounds like it’s being played in a deserted bar and has an air of early Tom Waits about it. The steady beat adds hope and a guitar lick wraps itself around the lovely piano coda. More than any other track, it looks toward the future.