Heavy Machinery Records is delighted to present Cleareye Shining, the savage sophomore LP from Melbourne post-punk outfit Bitumen.
The driving, metallic barrage of Bitumen’s signature sound is present within the lead track Out Of Athens, aggrandized by dramatic synths, acoustic guitar and layered vocals. Out Of Athens is a song about “the indignity of unreciprocated love, being on holiday, and the comedy inherent in experiencing a personal romantic tragedy against a backdrop of sweetness, light and maybe even disco”.
Most of the songs on Cleareye Shining were in the embryonic stages when the pandemic hit, forcing the band to move away from attempting to capture a live sound and lean into making a cleaner studio album. Crafting nine individual songs each with its own character and internal logic, Bitumen took a precise and restrained approach, allowing the album room to explore breakbeats, piano, acoustic guitars and more intimate vocal work.
Lyrically, Cleareye Shining sees shadowy figures in the throes of loving, lusting, plotting and fantasising. The result is 80s maximalism meets 90s industrial-electro. Robocop meets Basic Instinct. Always intense, always dramatic, and always demanding of your attention.
Cleareye Shining is out now on digital and in a limited bitumen-black vinyl edition.
Check out the full album and order your LP now.