GUERILLA TOSS
FAMOUSLY ALIVE (SUB POP)
Limited-edition first pressing on transparent purple vinyl! Dig deep enough inside yourself -- start treating your body as your sanctuary rather than your enemy -- and eventually you'll find yourself blooming right back out into the sun.
That's the transformation Guerilla Toss trace on their newest album Famously Alive, their effervescent Sub Pop debut.
After a decade sprinkling glitter into grit, building a reputation as one of the most ferociously creative art-rock groups working, the upstate New York band have eased fully into their light.
This is Guerilla Toss at their most luminescent -- awake, alive, and extending an open invitation to anyone who wants to soak it all up beside them.
Singer and lyricist Kassie Carlson, multi-instrumentalist Peter Negroponte and guitarist Arian Shafiee wrote Famously Alive at home in the Catskills during the pervading quiet of the pandemic year.
The uncertainty of COVID-19 lockdowns and the total disruption of routine forced Carlson to negotiate with herself in new and challenging ways.
"You have to be with yourself all the time during the pandemic," she says. "I had to figure out a way to manage my anxiety.
The pandemic was hard, but it helped me get comfortable inside my own body. My peace of mind came out of being thrust into the deepest shit.
This album is all about being happy, being alive, and strength. It's meant to inspire people." Famously Alive finds Guerilla Toss coming into the fullness of their power, celebrating their prismatic idiosyncrasies from a place of optimism and abundance.
It is a joyous album, equal parts bizarre, accessible, and fun.