The Rentals announced yesterday that a new album titled Resilience will be released on vinyl and CD May 3rd via the Ernest Jenning Record Co., with all proceeds going towards the ongoing relief efforts in Japan by the Red Cross.
While usually associated with their moog-heavy new wave inspired pop released in the nineties, the 18 tracks that make up Resilience are instrumental compositions culled from their ambitious yearlong multimedia project Songs About Time, which was released throughout 2009. Performed by the duo of founding member, and ex-Weezer bassist Matt Sharp and Lauren Chipman, who has been a constant since the bands 2005 post-hiatus lineup, these pieces were recored as original scores for the short films that were released each week as part of the project.
Given the stark, emotive qualities qualities of the compositions, fluidly transitioning back and forth from somber to uplifiting, Resilience is a hauntingly beautiful album, and as Derrick Taruc puts it on the bands site “With its orchestral gestures, delicate piano and poetic interludes, the music paints a fitting tribute to the character and resilience of the Japanese people.”
Pre-orders for physical copies of the album, on limited edition 180 gram vinyl or CD, went live yesterday, and are available from the band and the label. A digital release is immediately available here.
