In the Path of Totality

According to the “global outplacement and executive coaching firm,” Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., 87.3 million workers across the United States of America were poised to cost the capitalist class $694 million during the total eclipse of August 2017: the estimated losses caused by a convivial twenty-minute walk-out ...

In 1133 CE, King Henry I of England died upon eating spoiled eel, apparently precipitating a total solar eclipse. This cathartic episode lasted for four minutes of darkness and mourning, and opened onto years of war: another catastrophic expenditure of energy. But for those 240 seconds, there was only festival—the kind of giddy jubilee in which Georges Bataille perceives an intimation of equality and continuity between persons, otherwise repressed: a revolutionary Saturnalia whilst kings decompose ...

'In the Path of Totality,' from The Vanishing Signs (ARP Books, 2022)

It's been a busy month for Age of Self; we're in the studio this week, finishing a session with Cam Loeppky at Argyle Studio in Winnipeg. This includes some of our earliest and most recent music, summarizing two or more years of activity. On these songs, all four members are present—Sam plays drums, Mef plays bass, Joel plays guitar, and I gargle ego. It's sounding good, as you'll hear soon enough.

Otherwise, the trio music that we came up with for a California tour last March is beginning to escape into the world. 'They Buy Houses, Don't They?' is a cassette single b/w a hymn by Flipper, releasing on April 18th for some US dates later this month; but you can check it out online and support our foolish aspirations today. The music differs once again; a feedback-drenched basement samba or energetic drone, as suits a pissy lyric on the ravages of lived austerity. Play loud and tell a friend, and maybe we'll see you on the road.