Photo: Osha Cawdron

There’s marvelous news from acclaimed Montréal chamber rock ensemble Esmerine, who released a surprise album last Friday. Entitled Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More, it marks their first album in five years, following Mechanics Of Dominion, which was one of our Albums Picks of 2017. Out now digitally, Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More will have its physical release on August 26th through Constellation.

The record came to life in the Laurentian mountains and Gatineau Hills of Quebec, and as the band puts it, it “carries with it that sense of being ‘snowed-in’ and the joy of being ‘all-in-it together’, coupled with the unease and melancholy of having found an oasis while the storm continues to rage outside.” They continue, “All of this is wrapped up in these songs : odes and elegies, hymns and jubilees.”

Esmerine have also shared a fitting video to accompany the utterly beautiful ‘Fractals For Any Tonality’, which serves as the first single. Watch it now.

Esmerine‘s recent Mechanics Of Dominion, their first new album in four years, saw them collaborating with multi-disciplinary artist Brad Todd who has paired each song on the album with a visual accompaniment. The Montreal ensemble shared a new video for ‘La Lucha Es Una Sola’, filmed in and around Montreal Mile-End area.  The video, and as the press release explains,  “meditates on the built environment and its quotidian, utilitarian energy – electrification and transportation are the themes, in simple and sublime shots”. Here it is.

Mechanics Of Dominion is out now on Constellation.

We’ve been eagerly waiting for the release of Esmerine‘s new album Mechanics Of Dominion. The Montreal ensemble had already enticed us with two magnificent and compelling tracks, ‘Piscibus Maris’ and ‘The Space In Between’. Both were offered with a video by multi-disciplinary artist Brad Todd, who has paired every song on the album with a visual accompaniment.
Ahead of the album’s release later this month, Esmerine have shared the visuals for two new sublime and powerful songs, ‘¡Que Se Vayan Todos!’ and the title track. Mechanics Of Dominion is already one of our favourite albums of 2017.

Mechanics Of Dominion is out on October 20th through Constellation.

We’re over the moon to hear that Esmerine are set to release a new album, following last year’s monumental Lost Voices and the wonderful and glorious Dalmak, which was one of our Album Picks of 2013. Entitled Mechanics Of Dominion, the album blends together elements of Neo-Classical, Minimalist, Modern Contemporary, Folk, Baroque, Jazz and Rock genres “to invoke lamentation, meditation, resolve, resistance and hope”, as the label describes. “It is a requiem for our intractably suffering planet and a paean to the inscrutable, essential dignity of indigenous ethics and the natural world, and to modern human frailty and ingenuity.”

As with Esmerine’s previous albums, Jace Lasek took on production duties, and again contributes as a featured guest, as does Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s violinist Sophie Trudeau, amongst others.

Mechanics Of Dominion marks their sixth album release, and is due out on October 20th through Constellation. Luckily, we can already wrap our ears around two magnificent and compelling tracks from the record, the closing track ‘Piscibus Maris’ and the opener ‘The Space In Between’. Both are laced together in a befitting video made by Brad Todd.

Montreal’s chamber rock ensemble Esmerine have shared their new video for ‘The Neighbourhoods Rise’, the monumental opening track off their album Lost Voices, released last October. The video was made by Clyde Henry. Watch it below.

Lost Voices is out now via Constellation.