Released on August 5, 2022
HWY-072
Digital
Purchase Album
Songs
- Speaker Heads (feat. Mina Tindle)
- Repo Recorder (feat. Kid Millions)
- There Must Be Room In The Middle (feat. Mina Tindle)
- How Do You Feel?
- Slowly Ripping The Scene (feat. Kid Millions)
- You'll Get Me All The Time
- The Day Was Three
Notes
LANZ is the moniker for the solo endeavors of Benjamin Lanz. He made his debut in the before times with a pair of releases Hoferlanz I and Hoferlanz II — those names kinda inspired by how Van Halen and Led Zeppelin titled their first few records. Only LANZ sounds way different.
“Think Eno & The Who in a time warp,” says Ben. “They get in the Tardis thinking they’d returning to their respective best years in London. But instead, they land at The Ritz in 1992 just in time to catch a Dinosaur Jr. & My Bloody Valentine double bill.” In the past Ben has stated that his holy trinity is “Sun Ra, Soundgarden, and Syd Barrett.” Add in a bit of krautrock and post-rock and, well, the music of LANZ actually has the sound of that weird DNA.
In the music of LANZ, acoustic guitars mingle with drum machines. Time signatures swerve back and forth. Searing electric guitar licks make their way across the frame. Horns underline cryptic pop lyrics sung in bursts of catchiness — earworms abutting earworms. Good luck getting these melodies unstuck from the jukebox in your brain! As a consummate collaborator, the album also features performances by some artists from LANZ's extended musical community: Kid Millions is a featured performer on "Repo Recorder" and "Slowly Ripping The Scene"; Mina Tindle sings on lead single "Speaker Heads" and "There Must Be Room In The Middle."
Where previous albums were mostly written and recorded while Ben toured as a member of indie music all-stars The National, Beirut, and Sufjan Stevens, his forthcoming music was created during the quiet pandemic years of 2020-2022. It’s being unleashed to coincide with his return to touring in spring and summer 2022 as a core member of The National's road dog tribe.
p.s. A few tracks from A Drift were originally surprise release to Bandcamp in honor of an early Bandcamp Friday event. (We love Bandcamp!) Multiple new and unheard songs have been added to the release now that it's hitting streaming services.