Introducing: Insect Ark
INSECT ARK, the long-running exploratory endeavor led by Dana Schechter (SWANS), will unveil its Future Fossils EP via Belgium’s Consouling Sounds.
Future Fossils EP, an alluring collection of solo archived outtakes, excerpts, and live improv tracks born between 2016 and 2018, the entrancing release will see official release on September 24th with preorders available today.
When Dana Schechter started INSECT ARK as her “true” solo project in 2012, she set out to build desolate and hallucinogenic galaxies of sound entirely on her own. Writing and playing solo offered an escape into the deepest realms of self-reflection, dredging and birthing a hitherto sonic beast that was, it turns out, utterly unhinged and totally liberating. Focusing on experimental, drone, noise, and avant-garde noise, INSECT ARK’s first years produced records that were raw, ominous, and totally unique. While defying comparison, these new sounds possessed Schechter’s distinct musical spirit, woven throughout her twenty-plus years of band/collaboration work.
After three releases (2012’s Collapsar 7”, 2013’s Long Arms 10”, 2015’s Portal/Well LP), INSECT ARK added live drums to the mix, and the resulting albums — 2018’s Marrow Hymns (with drummer Ashley Spungin) and 2020’s The Vanishing (with drummer Andy Patterson) showed that her singular vision could also expand into heavier and more crushing territory within a collaborative space. The power that live drums brought to INSECT ARK helped gather a new fan base in the heavy-music world, adding another layer to the band’s palette.
Now, after nine years of existence, INSECT ARK has come full circle to once again embrace solo work on 2021’s Future Fossils.
Future Fossils is the first step in a continuing revisitation of Schechter’s solo work. “I felt now was a good time to do solo work again,” she offers. “I love to collaborate,and always will, but I also relish the sense of discovery, of reaching uncharted territory, and the freedom to adapt and shift at a moment’s notice. Those can only happen when performing alone.”
With two more new albums on the immediate horizon – another all-solo-synth material, as a full-length LP, and a full new “duo/band” LP – Schechter’s musical output as INSECT ARK has once again proven to defy genres, resist trends, and thwart expectations, leaving us all guessing to where she will traverse next.
Future Fossils will be released on CD, LP, and digitally with teaser tracks to be unveiled in the days to come. Find LP preorders HERE and CD preorders HERE. (Digital preorders will be available in the coming weeks).
