The self-titled album from Preoccupations begins with more than a minute of feedback noise and nasal radiator drone as a foreboding preamble. In the opening track, “Anxiety,” bassist-vocalist Matt Flegel murmurs cryptic, paranoiac verses (“I’m spinning in a vacuum, deteriorating to great acclaim”), but his frayed voice never comes across as self-pitying or defeatist; instead, he uses his anger to fuel his gas tank.
The record, which was released Sept. 16 from Jagjaguwar Records, comes after a few name-changes for the Canadian industrial art-rock band. Flegel, guitarist Daniel Christiansen and drummer Mike Wallace made up a Black Sabbath cover band before forming a fantastic rock group by the name Women, an outfit that disbanded after an on-stage fistfight in 2010 and guitarist Christopher Reimer’s death in 2012. Songs by Women are relatively hard to find, not only because its debut EP was a self-released cassette tape, but also because it’s basically futile to Google “Women band.” Later, members of Women rebranded as Viet Cong, which released an excellent self-titled EP in January last year.
But the name “Viet Cong” inevitably proved problematic, as the band was accused of being insensitive, practicing cultural appropriation and opening up old wounds. The name was considered offensive enough to justify cancelling a show at a liberal-arts college in Ohio in March 2015.
Preoccupations represents a significant evolution from the band’s days of prior names, as the majority of songs are virtually hookless and have the searing atmosphere of being trapped inside a furnace. Vitriol and angst are the album’s unifying elements, and the abstract meditation on anxiety is embodied by a muddled tangle of guitars and bass. The epic 11-and-a-half minute centerpiece “Memory” is an elegant bass-driven composition. A few minutes into the track, Wolf Parade’s Dan Boeckner takes a turn on vocals.
The tracks “Forbidden” and “Sense,” both of which run under two minutes, are relatively mellow respites for the blistering mood. By contrast, “Stimulation” sprints by with break-neck speed as Flegel shouts with glee, “All dead inside! All gonna die! All gonna die!” The album closes on “Fever,” the taunting electronics of which recall noise-rock group Holy Fuck. The synths begin in the backdrop before towering over Flegel’s “You’re not scared” mantra and ultimately drowning him out.
In May this year, Preoccupations played its first show under the new name at Sasquatch! Music Festival in George, Washington. The return was anticlimactic, to say the least. Unfortunately, a number of circumstances were geared against the band’s set, not the least of which was that it was a late add to the festival roster, and that no sensible festival-goer wants see a band called “Preoccupations” on a Saturday night, especially when it’s sandwiched in a lineup between Major Lazer and Tycho.
The show was attended by a sparse scattering of a few devotees. There was no stage banter, no formal introduction. Bass feedback filled the silence between songs. Christiansen’s abrupt guitar chords stomped on Flegel’s sporadic thanks to the crowd. During one quiet moment, the intro blips from “Midnight City” echoed from the main stage to this shadowy corner of the festival grounds. Later, silence overcame both band and audience when Flegel looked into the thin crowd and asked deadpan, “You guys know M83 is playing, right?”
“That’s the name on his driver’s license: M83,” Flegel remarked to his bandmates, forever fixated on the significance of band names.
Watch the music video for Preoccupations’ “Anxiety” below.