Acclaimed Chilean prog rockers Aisles have released their new single ‘Thanks to Kafka’, out now via the band’s own Presagio Records. The song is the fourth glimpse of the band’s new studio album, due in 2022 – more details to be announced soon. Check out ‘Thanks to Kafka‘ below.
“Thanks to Kafka” was influenced by the darker side of Porcupine Tree and Steven Wilson and the melancholy of Radiohead. It is also the first single where guitarist Germán Vergara takes the lead, with a nod to Lou Reed‘s interpretation, and marks a stylistic shift in relation to the three previously released singles, “Fast”, “Disobedience” and “Megalomania”:“ ‘Thanks to Kafka’ is completely introspective. It is based on the idea of people who did not find answers to their existential problems or who lost the battle of life,” says the musician. The writer Franz Kafka was the perfect reference to define this internal struggle, because “he speaks from defeat and approaches it from those dark places,” says Germán.
The track was recorded at Estudio del Sur, produced and mixed by Angelo Marini and Germán Vergara and mastered by American engineer Randy Merrill (Muse, Paul McCartney, Beck, Liam Gallagher). In addition, it is the fourth single from the band’s new studio album, after the release of “Fast”, which came out on June 4, “Disobedience”, released on July 15, and “Megalomania”, on August 27.
The cover was created by designer Jean Pierre Cabañas from Médu1a (winner of the Pulsar Award for Best Art of the Year for “El vuelo del Pillán ” by Kuervos del Sur in 2017). “We wanted to pay tribute to Kafka – Germán points out – in the image there is that skull with a hole like a person who committed suicide by shooting themselves and the c**kroach symbolizing depression”.
The group, formed by Germán Vergara, Israel Gil, Rodrigo Sepúlveda (guitar), Juan Pablo Gaete (keyboard), Felipe Candia (drums) and Daniel Concha (bass), are working on their fifth studio album. The new album moves away from the sonic experiences and concept of the band’s previous album Hawaii, to open up a more direct and powerful sound. “We have done a very exhaustive job: we put pressure on ourselves to change our paradigm,” says the producer and guitarist.
A shining example of prog rock’s universal reach, the Chilean band, formed more than 15 years ago, have a long and illustrious history. Previously nominated in the Italian Prog Awards, Aisles are the only South American group to be invited to France’s Crescendo Festival de Rock Progressif. The band released their fourth studio album Hawaii in 2016, a monumental, immersive, beautiful double-disc journey, reminiscent of Camel, Yes, Rush, Genesis, Marillion and more.
Aisles can lay claim to being South America’s most important progressive band of the past two decades. Hawaii was declared a masterpiece and received attention from Prog, NeoProg, iO Pages and many more. An exciting new era awaits.