In late September Baths - aka Will Wiesenfeld - announced Romaplasm (his first new album in 4 years) and shared lead single “Yeoman.” Today, he share the album’s next single: "Extrasolar." While lead single "Yeoman" clearly illustrates the album’s pop sensibilities, and second single "Out" packs a more 4x4 oriented dance beat alongside some bubbly synth work and playful lyrics. "Extrasolar" is a sci-fi inspired ballad that distills the everyday struggles of young Americans – relationships, technology, dating, etc – in a way that only Baths could. It's sure to be one of the more relatable songs from Romaplasm, due out November 17th via Anticon.
Listen to/Watch the Lyric Video for "Extrasolar"
Watch the Music Video for "Out"
Listen to "Yeoman"
Baths will be throwing an album release party for Romaplasm on Friday, November 24 at Zebulon in Los Angeles. Tickets are on sale here.
In his own singular style, Baths has created his own post-modern take on Romanticism. Romaplasm bears a similar emphasis on emotion and individualism. You can see the hallmarks of the movement’s stress on awe—and like many of the great Romantic artists, he confronts the gnawing chaos of life with a focus on beauty and the sublime.
For as long as Will Wiesenfeld has been Baths, he's been trafficking in perfect—or, more often and more interestingly—near-perfect pieces of pop. The project first emerged in 2009, merging the glitchy, punishing gloom of L.A.’s beat scene with sunnier melodies and vocals that often drifted into falsetto. The music was an instant sensation. Publications like Pitchfork heaped praise on his debut album, 2010's Cerulean, which codified the sound; Obsidian, which followed three years later, in part chronicled Wiesenfeld’s recovery from a ghastly illness, and was even more well-received.
Wiesenfeld is an artist who, through his work as Geotic, has carefully deconstructed songwriting into its basest parts; as Baths on Romaplasm, he reassembles the pieces of his musical and personal lives in the most piercing ways imaginable.
As always, Baths is unafraid to run counter to his surroundings: delicate when others are posturing, gripping and visceral where others drift into the digital morass. But this album is not about contrarianism, or about rejecting the status quo. It's about centering the things that are important to you, and doing so in the most honest way possible, even if that means fucking things up a bit along the way.
Pre-order Romaplasm on vinyl: https://www.anticon.com/item/romaplasm
Baths Assets are available HERE.