PACKS Shares New Single "Paige Machine", New Album Arrives January 19th
It's been a busy year for PACKS, the Madeline Link-led project who are getting set to release their third LP, Melt The Honey on January 19th via Fire Talk. The album was announced in September, and is the group's second LP in 12 months, following the release of Crispy, Crunchy Nothing in March. They have shared two singles from the record so far, "Honey" and "HFCS," which have seen an enthusiastic response from outlets like FADER, Stereogum, BrooklynVegan, Exclaim and Paste, and spent much of the fall on tour in the US with Geese. The band are currently on the road in the UK and Europe supporting Slow Pulp, and today they are sharing a third preview of their new LP, a track called "Paige Machine."
“Paige Machine” opens with the hiss of rain from an epic thunderstorm that happened in the forests of Veracruz, where PACKS tracked the record. The most laidback track released from the record so far, the song is centered around a langorous slide guitar hook, and was inspired by Mark Twain, using a device he championed as a metaphor for life, wherein our stubborn, progress-hungry attempts to improve what is already working can lead to obsessive tinkering and endless re-dos.
Says Link:
“Twain invested in a printing device called the Paige Compositor, spent his life’s savings on it, and it worked almost perfectly. It would have been revolutionary, but then the inventor, Paige, took it apart to tweak something, make the machine work even better, and it never worked again. They say that this failure led to Mark Twain’s decline.”
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For PACKS, making a record isn’t a means to an end; the making of the record is a communal experience, bottled up for the public to hear. On third album Melt the Honey PACKS explores a state of contentment, even bliss, long elided. The self-produced record honors the unpretentious disaffection of the grunge movement and the inventive arrangements of Guided By Voices, whose prolific output has inspired PACKS since their inception. To make Melt the Honey, PACKS traveled to Mexico City, where Madeline Link had spent significant time as an artist-in-residence at Casa Lü. Over the course of 11 days, PACKS practiced new songs in a rented studio space. From there, they took a bus to Xalapa where they worked as artists-in-residence at a house known as Casa pulpo, an architectural feat removed from the bustle of city life. “The house has no straight lines, it puts you in a creative mindset,” Link says. Melt the Honey, is an outward-facing testament to the wonderfully strange details of daily life, vividly rendered by a songwriter who knows they’re worthy of reverence. Out January 19th on Fire Talk.
*This is a pre order and will ship on or before the January 19th release date.
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For PACKS, making a record isn’t a means to an end; the making of the record is a communal experience, bottled up for the public to hear. On third album Melt the Honey PACKS explores a state of contentment, even bliss, long elided. The self-produced record honors the unpretentious disaffection of the grunge movement and the inventive arrangements of Guided By Voices, whose prolific output has inspired PACKS since their inception. To make Melt the Honey, PACKS traveled to Mexico City, where Madeline Link had spent significant time as an artist-in-residence at Casa Lü. Over the course of 11 days, PACKS practiced new songs in a rented studio space. From there, they took a bus to Xalapa where they worked as artists-in-residence at a house known as Casa pulpo, an architectural feat removed from the bustle of city life. “The house has no straight lines, it puts you in a creative mindset,” Link says. Melt the Honey, is an outward-facing testament to the wonderfully strange details of daily life, vividly rendered by a songwriter who knows they’re worthy of reverence. Out January 19th on Fire Talk.
*This is a pre order item and will ship on or before the January 19th release date.