Perverts In White Shirts "Meaning What Exactly?" LP

meaning what exactly? is piws’ second album, recorded in zürich and berlin between 2016 and 2020.

from the pulsating, seemingly free depths of the earth to a disconcerting present characterized by constraint, the album takes the listener on an existential journey through sonic and incorporeal ambiguities.

nathalie dreier and dave phillips enter the next level of their collaborative explorations and refine their dialogue mixing treated field recordings with organic acoustics and digital sources, brought together in long trance-inducing sessions of meticulous audio de/construction and philosophical debate, in which they regularly push each other beyond their personal, artistic and aesthetic limits.

on “methamphibians” PIWS collaborate with bryan lewis saunders. in the lyrics, bryan describes a dystopian dream that blends with the immediate reality of his tennessee neighbourhood, a reality in which he created the mask that ended up being used for the album artwork. this hypnagogic juxtaposition of contrasting realities reflects an ambiguity topically explored throughout the whole album.

PIWS’ music has been called electro, industrial, witchhouse, experimental, noise pop, or “trans-genre”. the new song structures are more organic, often using elements constructed from field recordings. omitting the groovebox used on the first album, the allround sound has become more abstract though it still revolves around rhythm.

the album title is an hommage to COIL. the last track “the house is black” is inspired by the 1962 film by Forugh Farrokhzad of the same name. the cover photographs are by red rubber road. the audio has been mastered by riccardo mazza.

released as a limited edition (100 copies) vinyl LP packaged in deluxe tip-on gatefold jacket (download included)