Richmond, VA post-rock/metal act Shy, Low are a band that have miraculously escaped our official attention on this site, which is quite simply a huge mistake on our parts. The band’s previous full-length, 2015’s Hiraeth, is an example of brilliantly-executed and emotionally-tinged cinematic instrumental rock that skirts the line between post-rock and metal in league with the likes of Caspian and We Lost The Sea. It’s great stuff that any fan of this kind of music should be listening to.

That was then though, and currently the band are preparing to release a new EP entitled Burning Day, which finds the band taking a new direction musically into decidedly darker and grungier territory. We are fortunate enough to be premiering one half of that EP here in “Dialectics,” which you can listen to below!

From the more ambient and crawling intro to the much heavier and dirtier-sounding entrance of the main theme, it is easy to hear that the band have something pretty radically different in mind than anything they’ve done before. The sounds featured on “Dialectics” are rather far removed from the lighter touches of Hiraeth and closer to If These Trees Could Talk and especially Telepathy – who, ironically, just released their own album featuring a song entitled “Hiraeth.” It’s a gripping 8 minutes, one that bodes well for the band as they seek grimmer pastures.

As drummer Sean Doody explains, the music of “Dialectics” and Burning Day were largely influenced both by a lineup change and by recent events.

“‘Dialectics’ was the first song we wrote with our new bassist, Shaun. His influence is obvious in the heavier nature of the song. It both speaks back to our older material, like ‘Absence’ and ‘Heavy Hands,’ while also moving us forward in a new direction. The title itself has layers of meaning. It is intended to comment on several different things, from the EP’s antithetical relation to ‘Hiraeth,’ to the contradictions surrounding our own personal lives and the collective life of the band, to the authoritarian turn in politics that has burst asunder from the peripheral festering swamps of marginal social circles and into the mainstream. Conceptually, the dialectic captures both the musicality and collective thought behind this song.”

Having listened to both tracks of the EP, I can tell you definitively that this is one you’re going to want to hear, and Shy, Low are absolutely a band you’ll be wanting to follow if you weren’t already. Burning Day comes out on July 7 through Spartan Records. You can pre-order the EP here. The band will be embarking on a string of tour dates coinciding with the EP’s release, which you can find below.

07.07 Columbus, OH @ Space Bar

07.08 Detroit, MI @ New Dodge Lounge

07.09 Rockford, IL @ Malort Mansion

07.10 Milwaukee, WI @ Quarters

07.11 St. Louis, MO @ The Sinkhole

07.12 Louisville, KY @ The Cure Lounge

07.13 Cincinnati, OH @ Golden Mean