Activity - A Thousand Years In Another Way

Western Vinyl - WV279LP

"Evil is very real and having its way, and love is also real and hasn't lost yet." That's how Activity's Travis Johnson sums up A Thousand Years In Another Way, the Brooklyn band's third album. A friend had asked why the songs captured the strange, heavy feeling of being alive right now-and that was his answer. The album doesn't explain this era; it simply inhabits it, blending violence, alienation, and tenderness into something that feels like modern life itself. Across ten songs, Activity mixes experimental rock, electronics, and found sounds with paranoia, flickers of hope, and a warped reality. Working with producer Jeff Berner (Psychic TV), they manipulated sound and space to create an atmosphere where the air feels thick and the walls seem to listen. Coming out of a period of uncertainty, the quartet-Travis Johnson, Jess Rees, Bri DiGioia, and Steven Levine-assembled the album from fragments: clipped samples, looping guitars, ghostly melodies. Rees, DiGioia, and Johnson share vocal and writing duties, crafting songs that feel both personal and eerily unfamiliar. Nothing stays fixed-everything could fall apart at any moment. Lead single "In Another Way" opens the album with raw energy and an unsettling refrain: "Who will marry me now? All the good husbands have drowned." That instability continues on "We Go Where We're Not Wanted," built from layered samples and fractured rhythms, evoking a society on edge. Vulnerability runs through the record. "Piece of Mirror" offers ghostly minimalism, Hesse-inspired lyrics, and an innocent yet ominous pulse. "Good Memory" and "Her Alphabet" explore lost innocence, while "Heavy Breathing" brings a tender brush of '80s synth-pop. "Scissors" pairs crushing bass with sweet melodies, while "Your Dream" and "I Came Here to Harm You" confront quiet resentment in both personal and political realms. Closer "A Beast" draws from Blood Meridian and the Book of Revelation, reflecting on evil-and imagining its end. It's a fitting finale for a record that lives in a disoriented, bruised, and strangely beautiful world. It might not offer answers, but A Thousand Years In Another Way captures the feeling of right now-and maybe yours, too.

Side A:
In Another Way 05:22
A Piece of Mirror 04:14
We Go Where We're Not Wanted 04:03
Your Dream 03:47
Good Memory 01:48

Side B:
Scissors 03:08
Heavy Breathing 02:49
Her Alphabet 03:41
I Came Here to Harm You 04:10
A Beast 05:01

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