In the beginning, Folk Implosion embodied the lo-fi, basement recording aesthetic as the mellower indie rock side project of Sebadoh frontman, Lou Barlow. Throughout the ages, the membership, sound, and even name of the Implosion has undergone some serious changes. The latest permutation of the band, The New Folk Implosion, still founds itself on the creative shoulders of Barlow, but takes on two new members, Russel Pollard and Imaad Wasif, from fellow indie outfit Alaska in place of longtime Implosion partner, John Davis. And on their eponymous debut, The New Folk Implosion culminates the band’s decade-long climb up those creaky basement stairs to a first floor, semi-professional home-studio.
Featuring silky smooth production, the New Implosion focuses much more on pop-composition and instrumentation instead of the stripped-down vibe of their earliest years. As a bass, drums and guitar trio, the group lays down tracks that vary from sulky folk to brooding rock with various layers of dissonance and harmony in between. This time around, however, they chipped-in for top-shelf equipment to hone in on their new sound.
Archived article by Andrew Gilman