Zürich art-rockers District Five share 'GLUT'

ZURICH'S DISTRICT FIVE SHARES  GLUT THE LIMITS OF CONTEMPORARY CAPITALIST LIFE PUT UNDER THE SHARP BLADE OF POLISHED, KNOTTY ART ROCK

Photo by Flavio Karrer

Today, Zürich, Switzerland-based group District Five share their new album GLUT via Stone Pixel Records.  Listen to GLUT here. Today's focus track, “Strict Circumstances,” relies on a droning grunge guitar to deliver an oddly calming frequency while observing the destructive nature of the capitalist logic on an individually experienced level. The piece yearns for a sense of freedom and contemplates a general loss of meaning; it opens with “Just frying my brains away / Keeping these ghosts astray.” A plucky guitar then takes over on the verse, introducing an almost Dirty Projectors-like feeling of recent nostalgia to the band's art rock foundation. Of the track, the band explains: "while being one of our more tender songs (different story played live :)) – 'Strict Circumstances' describes a haunted life, a spiraling process kept in motion by contemporary life and its limits. There’s a general loss of meaning yet a yearning for different futures towards the end." Recent singles follow similar lines of moral questioning: “Push" ft. Grammy-nominated poet Saul Williams speaks out against unchecked imperialism, the genocide in Palestine, and the allure of escapist resignation; a space-rock dread and an almost Nick Drake-like vocal melody grasps at redemption through vice. “Place Your Bet,” sets the modern deluge of gambling apps and financialized prediction markets to a swirl of 7/4 shuffle and proggy dread. Further album highlights include album opener "Seed," which goes into various images and perceptions in/of nature and how time is experienced through multiple generations (past, present, future); how histories and stories are made, re-made. It’s musically very dynamic also when played live. The instrumental track "Chalk" builds on a little loop and is an in the moment, improvised piece of music captured on tape. It’s origami-like textures and melodies fold into each other in kaleidoscopic motion. "Company Man" offers a harsh change in musical direction and timbre, with a little line borrowed out of Laurie Anderson’s ‘O Superman,’ fitting for the absurdist mood. Both aesthetically daring and politically astute, District Five's music is wildly expansive and hard to pin down. KEXP has commended District Five's "adventurous art-rock with psych and jazz undercurrents;" the group veers from texturally modern experimental jazz (think Maruja or SML) to prickly but anthemic space-rock (somewhere between The Verve and Clinic) to scabrous but math-y post-punk noise (like black midi or Lightning Bolt), all while weaving in and out of haunting, often uncomplicated, melodic passages.  District Five is Paul Amereller (drums, percussion), Tapiwa Svosve (vocals, synth, sax), Vojko Huter (vocals, guitar, synth), and Xaver Rüegg (bass). For ten years, the four friends have been experimenting with their sound language in practice rooms, finding ways to illuminate the minutia of their personal relationships, as well as the greater human experience. Much like their 2024 album, Come Closer, GLUT captures the immediacy of their live sound — with minimal cuts and overdubs.  The band gives the friends a sense of agency that they're using to reflect on and shape the trajectory of the lives and the lives of those they reach with their distinct sound.  GLUT is out now via Stone Pixel Records, listen here. TRACKLIST 1. Seed 2. Company Man 3. Strict Circumstances 4. Push (ft. Saul Williams) 5. Place Your Bet 6. Twist The Wire 7. For A While 8. Chalk 9. Somewhere In Between Stay connected with District Five: 23 Profile | Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube