Back with their first new banger since Purple dropped in late 2015, Savannah sludge-rock act Baroness have released “Borderlines,” the first single from the quartet’s forthcoming Gold & Grey album. All the elements that drew fans to earlier releases are fully intact — galloping beats, stoner-infused riffs and frontman-bandleader John Baizley’s huge, unmistakable voice soaring high above the joyful licks thrown out by both him and the group’s new lead guitarist, Gina Gleason. Drummer Sebastian Thomson holds down a hard-hitting, steady beat while the rest of the music swirls in an off-kilter, progressive fashion, leading up to a spacey extended outro.
Baizley said of the new album, “Our goal is, was, and will always be to write increasingly superior, more honest and compelling songs, and to develop a more unique and challenging sound.” The sounds on “Borderlines” definitely push the band forward and take a more adventurous route as compared to some of the more radio-ready hits from their last few records.
The band members claim they took a “looser, more improvisational approach” to recording Gold & Grey rather than going into the studio with a set plan. The spirit of experimentation is also clear in the track’s funky music video, which the four members seem to have filmed while lip-syncing to a slowed-down version of the song before the footage was sped up in post-production so their facial expressions and body movements look bizarre and exaggerated. Psychedelic squiggles and neon lights flash around them, and human skulls pop through. By the end of the clip, the bandmates disappear and all that’s left is a buzzing mess of light centered in the black screen. Check the song and video out below. Gold & Grey is due June 14th via the band’s own Abraxan Hymns — you can pre-order it here.
