The Number Twelve Looks Like You have released Howls From The Holographic Heart through Equal Vision Records and Rude Records. It is the New Jersey band's first full-length since Wild Gods in 2019, and arrives with a new animated video for ‘Trust Chaos’.
Seven years is a long interval, but the record does not sound built to restore an old version of the band. Jesse Korman, Alexis Pareja, Cody McCorry and Michael DeMarco move through hard pivots in rhythm and tone across 12 songs, keeping the collision between precision and instability that has always made them difficult to place in one scene.
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“We don't want to live up to what everyone just expects of us.”
Jesse Korman, via Equal Vision Records
Making peace with the wrong turns
The band describe ‘Trust Chaos’ as a song about accepting the roads not taken. Rather than trying to erase mistakes, its subject recognises how those decisions and disruptions become part of a life. The animated video, directed by Animoscillator, follows that idea through a series of unsettling transformations.
That theme sits inside an album with a deliberately wide musical range. ‘Dancing Before The Flood’ responds to the isolation of the COVID period, while ‘Joy Is A Weapon’ turns towards violence and features Foxy Shazam. ‘Glow In The Dark Skin’ pulls the record towards progressive pop without making the surrounding abrasion feel less severe.
Three producers and a record made to move
Jeremy Comitas, Trae Titus and guitarist Alexis Pareja produced Howls From The Holographic Heart. The result is dense without blurring the players together: McCorry's low end and DeMarco's drumming keep the sharpest changes physical, while Korman and Pareja push the songs between panic, melody and release.
The Number Twelve Looks Like You are currently marking the 20th anniversary of Mongrel on a US tour with Kaonashi and Differences. Howls From The Holographic Heart is streaming now, with physical editions available through the official album campaign.
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