Defeater has never been afraid to take it to the next level- an initial concept hardcore album has grown into 6 studio releases, each building on the foundation of the other to transcend genre and subject matter, connecting with fans all over the world. The latest chapter in the Defeater universe, their Self-Titled fifth LP, showcases the band at their most fully-realized, and most raw. Defeater (vocalist Derek Archambault, guitarists Jake Woodruff and Adam Crowe, bassist Michael Poulin, and drummer Joe Longobardi) has had a good run already.
However, it's also been a long road. Years of touring took their toll on the friends that make up the current lineup- family, health, and substance abuse issues, and ejecting a longtime member, made a touring hiatus necessary. After a few months at home, working and decompressing, the fire to write a new record caught everyone in a major way.
With members scattered across the US and Europe playing in multiple other projects, the songs were traded remotely at first. Every few months the group got together to synthesize and distill their ideas. The process let the songs marinate and mature, while retaining their spontaneity. This was a first for a band usually forced into shorter writing sessions, and led to the most organic batch of songs yet- songs that stretch the boundaries of the group while remaining classically "Defeater". The instrumentation is complimented by a new narrative approach, inhabiting Archambault's own "Glass family" (an homage to the J.D. Salinger characters) in a more enigmatic way.
To capture the songs that would become "Defeater", the band partnered with producer/engineer/force of nature Will Yip (Quicksand, La Dispute, Blacklisted, Ms. Lauren Hill) whose enthusiasm and talent pushed the songs to their fullest potential. What emerged from these sessions is the most devastating, yet sonically arresting, Defeater record to date. It's as pummeling as it is atmospheric, showcasing a band continually rediscovering itself and still hungry.
