Divide And Dissolve share video for "Indignation"

DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE SHARE VIDEO FOR “INDIGNATION“

NEW ALBUM SYSTEMIC OUT 30TH JUNE VIA INVADA RECORDS

You can feel the deep intention in Divide and Dissolve’s music. Their dense sound is overwhelmingly heavy; a dissonant pounding of percussion, guitars, piano, synths and saxophone, interwoven with passages of orchestral beauty that give a feeling of respite. “The heaviness is really important,” saxophonist / guitarist Takiaya Reed says. “It’s congruent with the message of the music, and the heaviness feels emblematic of this world’s situation.”

Divide and Dissolve’s moving new single “Indignation,” “is a prayer that land be given back to Indigenous people,” she explains. “A hope that future generations no longer experience the atrocities and fervent violence that colonisation continues to bring forth.”

It’s available today with an accompanying video directed by Sepi Mashiahof. Of the piece, she tells, “In reflecting on the powerful and vital messaging found in Divide and Dissolve’s music: decolonization, the destruction of white supremacy, and liberation from oppressive structures—this video is about the collective grief we experience about the lives we all could have were it not for the cruel and arbitrary systems of power that impede each and every one of our potentials. The potential to truly love ourselves and each other is distorted by the agendas of vicious capitalist vultures who seek to emaciate our joys, bonds, and communities for their own gain. This video depicts an abstracted portrait of what suffering under these accelerating conditions feels like. Technology, dysphoria, dream-form sentience, transaction, and depersonalization constitute the thematic palette, laid upon the hope of shedding our current forms and transcending into boundless, beautiful ether.”

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR “INDIGNATION” VIA YOUTUBE BELOW:

Divide and Dissolve’s new album Systemic examines the systems that intrinsically bind us and calls for a system that facilitates life for everyone. It’s a message that fits with the band’s core intention: to make music that honours their ancestors and Indigenous land, to oppose white supremacy, and to work towards a future of Black and Indigenous liberation.

Saxophonist and guitarist Takiaya Reed comments, “This music is an acknowledgement of the dispossession that occurs due to colonial violence,” She continues, “The goal of the colonial project is to separate Indigenous people from their culture, their life force, their community and their traditions. The album is in direct opposition to this.”

Like its predecessor Gas Lit, Systemic was produced by Ruban Neilson of Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Systemic was recorded as a duo and Takiaya says this new album is a continuation of 2021’s acclaimed Gas Lit. “Because of what was built with ‘Gas Lit’, ‘Systemic’ is able to express itself.”

As Takiaya emphasises, it’s crucial for their music to be instrumental. “I believe in the power of non-verbal communication,” she continues, “A huge percent of communication is non-verbal. We learn so much without using words.” The exception to this on the album is one spoken word track, “Kingdom of Fear”, that features writer and artist Minori Sanchiz-Fung who also contributed to previous Divide and Dissolve albums. The band’s choice to include Minori’s words is purposeful and important to their message (excerpt below):

If I am denied

The kindness

Needed to transform sorrow

If I am denied

The simple gentleness

Of existing,

Then I will leave

My gifts

Like lichen over the oak branches,

trusting they’ll be safe

Until you find them

Systemic is a thick wash of sound, equal parts beauty and anguish and creates a wholly encompassing experience for even a casual listener.

The message of positivity is conveyed in Systemic’s final track “Desire”: a beautiful, multi-layered euphony of sound that feels like a beacon of hope. “There’s a world I want to live in, and I’m going to continue to focus on that world,” Takiaya says. “Indigenous people are here. With our existence it challenges the colonial constructs that call for genocide. We are still alive.”

Systemic arrives on all formats via Invada on June 30th. Pre-order it here.

Systemic album cover

SYSTEMIC TRACK LISTING:

1 – WANT

2 – BLOOD QUANTUM

3 – DERAIL

4 – SIMULACRA

5 – REPROACH

6 – INDIGNATION

7 – KINGDOM OF FEAR (featuring Minori Sanchiz-Fung)

8 – OMNIPOTENT

9 – DESIRE

Divide and Dissolve are focused on Indigenous Sovereignty. Takiaya is Black and Cherokee, and Sylvie is Māori. As a duo they released two full length albums, Basic (2017) and Abomination (2018) through DERO Arcade before signing with Invada to release their widely acclaimed third album Gas Lit in 2021, which was hailed Mary Anne Hobbs’ Album of the Year. A Gas Lit remix EP was released in 2021, including reworkings of Divide and Dissolve’s music by Moor Mother, Chelsea Wolfe and Bearcat. Divide and Dissolve toured throughout North America and Europe in 2022 supporting Low and performing headline dates and festival appearances and have live shows and festival appearances planned in support of Systemic, including appearances at Supersonic Festival and End of the Road – further listings below. At this time, due to personal reasons, Sylvie will be stepping back from her duties performing live with the band.