TORRES' new album "Three Futures" produced by Rob Ellis (PJ Harvey) out now

4AD has recently released "Three Futures", the third full-length album by TORRES, the creative alter-ego of Brooklyn-based Mackenzie Scott. In describing the album, Scott says it "is entirely about using the body that each of us has been given as a mechanism of joy."

The 10 original tracks on "Three Futures" embrace ecstasy, desire and indulgence rather than self-denial, and exude this idea via immersive music. Mechanized grooves are placed at the forefront, providing a framework for perforated electro-pop static, harsh gothic / industrial textures, and insistent Krautrock motifs. Through it all, Scott remains a fluid and expressive vocalist: she employs a more animated, frantic delivery to convey the dark obsessive desires described in ‘Helen in the Woods’ while elsewhere she exhibits a throaty, hollow timbre or takes a solemn, reverential approach.

For "Three Futures", Scott reconnected with producer Rob Ellis (PJ Harvey), who worked on TORRES’ last album "Sprinter", to record in Stockport and Dorset, England. David Tolomei (Beach House, Future Islands) mixed the album.

Listen to the album now »

Ahead of the album release, three magic videos were published:

‘Skim’ stream/video | ‘Three Futures’ stream/video | ‘Helen In The Woods’ stream/video

 

When Mackenzie Scott started writing the third TORRES record, Three Futures, she became intrigued by the idea that music could be enjoyed and experienced by all five senses. This concept wasn't a new fascination, though; after all, the Brooklyn-via-Nashville musician is already known for lighting fragrant Palo Santo on stage before her concerts.

 

During the writing process, Scott found supporting intellectual inspiration in books: works of fiction (Vladimir Nabokov's Transparent Things, Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast, Lorrie Moore, Self-Help), memoirs (Carrie Brownstein's Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me) and even Alejandro Jodorowsky's Psychomagic: The Transformative Power of Shamanic Psychotherapy. Coates’ book in particular helped inspire one of Three Futures' overarching lyrical themes: celebrating the body. 

 

"The body is something to be celebrated; it doesn't just occupy space. And the record celebrates the space that you've been given." 

 

"Three Futures" exudes this idea via immersive music. Unlike 2015's "Sprinter", a stark record whose ominous electronic elements largely lurked in the shadows behind deliberate guitars and languid arrangements, "Three Futures" places mechanized grooves at the forefront. In a nod to the multitude of pleasures hinted at by the record's theme, Scott's sonic inspirations are diverse and enveloping: perforated electro-pop static, gothic industrial's harsh textures and insistent Krautrock. 

 

"I love a record that unfolds over time, and blooms in ways that someone couldn't have imagined on the first, second or even tenth listen. That's what makes a classic album—and that's what I was after."

 

Some press for TORRES and "Three Futures":

“How Torres and St. Vincent Are Subverting Sexualized Rock-Star Archetypes” Vulture

"The dissonant guitars and whirring synths land on the more accessible side of avant-garde rock… though revelling in never quite resolving its melodies”  Uncut [8/10]

“A stunning and important album.” Q

"The new album—Torres’s 4AD debut—is a bold step forward, embracing a glossy, doom-filled sonic palette to compliment the cold power of Scott’s voice.” SPIN’s Most Anticipated 2017 Fall Releases

“Courageously candid in her songwriting and some inspired hybrid of PJ Harvey and Kurt Cobain onstage, she’s proved far too compelling for us not to look anxiously ahead to September’s Three Futures.” Consequence of Sound’s Most Anticipated Albums of Fall 2017

"A gorgeously languid song laced with synths, just barely brimming over with quiet, but subtly menacing guitar work.” NPR Music            

“Truth-bombing songwriter TORRES makes ome of themost darkly powerful indie rock around.” Rolling Stone

"She is singing intensely personal, even florid, lyrics to an unnamed loved one: “We lined the Hudson with our tangents/ You trusted me to love your parents.” The effect is a bit mannered, like we’ve walked in on Scott mid-transformation, but her voice cuts through the murk like an approaching stranger, locking eyes.” Pitchfork

“Rendered with the repressed, vibrant sadness of a Todd Haynes melodrama.” The FADER

 

"Three Futures" Tracklist:

1. Tongue Slap Your Brains Out

2. Skim

3. Three Futures

4. Righteous Woman

5. Greener Stretch

6. Helen in the Woods

7. Bad Baby Pie

8. Marble Focus

9. Concrete Ganesha

10. To Be Given a Body

 

TORRES (guitar, vocals) and band -- Erin Manning (keyboards, vocals), Cameron Kapoor (guitar) and Dominic Cipolla (drums) -- will tour the UK and Europe this Autumn, supported by The Dove & The Wolf.

 

TORRES European tour dates:

Sat. 11/4 – REYKJAVIK, IS @ @ Iceland Airwaves

Tue. 11/7 – MANCHESTER, UK @ Soup Kitchen #

Wed. 11/8 – LONDON, UK @ Tufnell Park Dome #

Thu. 11/9 – BRIGHTON, UK @ The Haunt #

Fri. 11/10 – PARIS, FR @ Le Point Ephemere #

Sat. 11/11 – AMSTERDAM, NL @ Bitterzoet

Tue. 11/13 – COLOGNE, DE @ Gebaude 9 #

Wed. 11/14 – HAMBURG, DE @ Waagenbau #

Thu. 11/15 – BERLIN, DE @ Kantine am Berghain #

Fri. 11/16 – MUNICH, DE @ Ampere #

Sun. 11/18 – BRUSSELS, BE @ Botanique Rotonde #

 

# = with The Dove & The Wolf