Ontario’s The Dirty Nil unveiled their fifth album, ‘The Lash‘, on Friday July 25 via Dine Alone Records / Civilians. Ultimately, ‘The Lash’ sounds exactly like what the title implies – a cold, hard crack of the whip by the Canadian rock band, one that snaps them with a much needed reset after nearly 20 years of exploring the light.
Following the hardcore-laced heat of Fail In Time and the snarling honesty of Rock N’ Roll Band, the record’s focus track, This Is Me Warning Ya, showcases a strikingly different side of the band – cinematic, spacious, and surprisingly romantic. This is Me Warning Ya trades distortion for orchestration, bringing in violin and cello to build a darkly elegant backdrop for frontman Luke Bentham’s crooning vocals.
The track taps into the emotionality that defines ‘The Lash’, while highlighting the album’s most intimate, string-laden moment. “I was definitely on a Frank Sinatra listening kick,” says Bentham. “I wrote it really quickly and was happy with it. There were no revisions or alterations from the first draft. When we recorded it, our friend Sara Danae came in to play violin on what I had laid down, it really made it sound lush. We asked if she could also play some cello as well. Despite never playing one before, she bowed out a simple but beautiful passage and I was over the moon with the final result.”
Everything about ‘The Lash’ evokes a certain brutality. During a trip to the Vatican, Bentham found inspiration in some of its forgotten art: “I was in a very dusty part of the basement, and they had these crazy bronze reliefs that were some of the most brutal things I’ve ever seen. There was a particular one called The Horrors of War. It was two guys fighting over a knife. That image ended up guiding a lot of this record.”
From there, the band brought in UK designer Jack Sabbat for his acerbic, bootleg punk-flyer style, assuring ‘The Lash’ would look right at home in a beat-up bin of old Crass records or in a Medieval torture dungeon. Thematically, the album’s 10 tracks trade Bentham’s usual happy-go-lucky romanticism for a cathartic vent session about everything from music industry bullsh*t to the dissolution of a relationship. Drummer and co-conspirator Kyle Fisher jokes: “I’ve been telling people that this is Luke’s therapy record.”
Since forming in 2006, The Dirty Nil have always embraced the flashier side of punk. But with ‘The Lash’, they strip it all down to the essentials – just two friends in a room, playing like everything is on the line. For fans of The Jesus Lizard, The Bronx, and Metz, ‘The Lash’ is a high-stakes rock record from a band that has spent over a decade tearing up stages, building a worldwide following, and even winning a JUNO Award for Breakthrough Band in 2017. They’ve played the game and jumped through the hoops – now, The Dirty Nil are doing things entirely on their own terms.
With thanks to Bigmouth PR
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