Allah-Las to release new studio album Zuma 85
Allah-Las will release their new studio album Zuma 85 on October 13th through their own label, Calico Discos, in partnership with Innovative Leisure, which also released their break through records Allah-Las (2012) and Worship The Sun (2014). The album was recorded at the picturesque Panoramic House recording in Stinson Beach with co-producer Jeremy Harris (White Fence, Devendra Banhart). The first single The Stuff and the title song are out now.
For the last 15 years, Allah-Las have alchemically melded surf rock washes with folk rock jangle and rock, building up their lauded music podcast, Reverberation Radio, and record label, Calico Discos, in the process. But a lot has changed since Matthew Correia (drums/vocals), Spencer Dunham (bass, guitar, vocals), Miles Michaud (guitar, organ, vocals), and Pedrum Siadatian (guitar, synth, vocals) first bonded over psych rock vinyl in the back room at Amoeba Records in the late aughts. Zuma 85 finds the quartet facing a new world with a wealth of new sounds, drawing from an eclectic mix of progressive rock, prog, kosmische, and Eno-esque art rock, scuzzy Royal Trux riffs, and detouring into tones and textures that call to mind ‘90s and 2000s pop.
The album was born, like so much else these days, out of the downtime of 2020-2022. When it came time to reconvene, that sense of looseness proved pivotal. Instead of bringing finished songs to the studio, they entered the picturesque Panoramic House with sketches, ideas, and riffs and they created the new songs in real time over three sessions.
It was clear from the get go the bucolic environment would be conducive to creating the first statement from Allah-Las 2.0. “We got in real late that first night of the first session,” Michaud says. “It was around midnight. We had a quick intro and Jeremy had a bottle of wine. We had a little and he said, ‘You wanna start recording?’” They did. When the group reassembled the following morning to listen back, they found the sparkling and stutter--stepped “Right On Time” mostly done. It was unlike anything the band had ever recorded but felt entirely natural. “Everything just worked,” Michaud says. “That studio just pulls it out of you.
“The Stuff is a tongue-in-cheek ode to rock tropes and nostalgic sentiments in the music world, including stereotypes of musicians and various trends in music,” says the band about their new single. “This is sonically embodied with vocoder, guitar solos, and a steady, driving rhythm.”
In September Allah-Las will tour throughout Europe:
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