Since 2012, we have self-released a series of tapes—dubbed "mixtapes"—which have allowed us to explore new ideas, play with compositional techniques, and ultimately discover new sounds. We treat each tape as both a sounding board for the development of new ideas and a self-contained work unto itself. Starting with Mixtape Volume 1 we began to play with the technique of audio collage, juxtaposing a series of seemingly unrelated musical components into one unbroken stream. This technique became the foundation for future tapes as well as our studio albums.
 
We have now begun work on the next entry in the series—naturally titled Mixtape Volume 4—the centerpiece of which will be an interpretation of the piece “Stay On It” by the composer Julius Eastman.  Eastman combined elements of minimalism, jazz and pop music like no one before him, all while pushing the limits of the acceptable in terms of sexual and civil rights. Though under-appreciated in his lifetime, Eastman’s work has enjoyed a rediscovery of late, and we are excited to take part in the celebration of his legacy in performing this beautiful piece.
 
For the remainder of the tape we will use as a motif voicemails left to us by our listeners on a messaging service we made called the “Horse Lords Hotline.” Not given a specific prompt, callers were free to leave us any message they liked, some reading from academic texts, others reading poems, and some simply expressing their confusion. 

Though we will once again do all of the recording, mixing, and mastering ourselves, we will not self-release this mixtape. Instead, Northern Spy Records  will release it in cassette and digital form, thus hopefully reaching a wider audience.

2016 was a busy and fruitful year for us. We released our third studio album, toured all over North America and Europe, and played our music on countless stages, both large and small (some very, very small). But now it's time for us to compose all new material and move forward as a band.

Time, however, is difficult to set aside for the unglamorous task of hanging out in our basement practice space and testing new ideas until we find something that works. So this year we plan to try something new; we plan to go on a two week retreat to a cabin recording studio owned by our label, Northern Spy Records. There we can escape from the distractions of everyday life and focus on composing a new album's worth of music.

Once we hone our new songs through live performance we can record them using the process we have developed with our previous three albums. We have increasingly handled a lot of the engineering and mixing ourselves--which we would be able to do much better with higher quality equipment--but we will also continue turn to Chris Freeland (Wye Oak, Lower Dens) for help to achieve the best results we're capable of.