CREDIT: NORMAN WONG
After two years of recording and an album that signifies a fresh start, The Great Detachment is a real treat.

I write about random things a lot. I write a lot about random things. This week I’m excited about the return of Wintersleep, the Halifax- born group that stormed the charts and collective listeners’ consciences with indie-rock classics like “Weighty Ghost” and “Black Camera” since forming in 2001.

It’s always a cop-out to refer to a band as ‘returning’ or ‘coming back’ to the spotlight, but the band, vocalist Paul Murphy and Tim D’eon on guitar, Loel Campbell on drums, Mike Bigelow on bass and Jon Samuel on keys, are indeed following a quiet period, frequently popping up in the news since announcing their signing to Dine Alone Records back in December.

This week they are set to release The Great Detachment, their sixth studio album and first full-length release since 2012. To celebrate the coming release, here are three things you should know about the record before it hits music stores and online retailers on Friday, March 4.

It’s been in the works for over two years

The group has been visible since the start of 2016, announcing a Canadian tour and sharing two songs, “Amerika” and “Santa Fe”, the first and second songs from the album, on The Wall Street Journal and Noisey, respectively. What’s more, they recorded an intimate acoustic session featuring the album opener in the Collective Arts Black Box that was posted by indie88.com just after the new year.

Both tunes are upbeat and driving, evidence not only of the sonic ride that is the album to come, but also the strides that Wintersleep have taken to up their game, marrying their atmospheric alt-rock style with beautiful arrangements and vocals. There is a joint sense of urgency and energy throughout much of the album, just one of many telltale indicators that the band approached the recording of this record with great care and purpose.

In many ways, The Great Detachment feels like a powerful, contemporary record by a group with a lot to say. And it is, but the way the band recorded and the conditions under which they worked had a lot to do with the final album and completely belies the fact they took over two years to demo, grow and even test the music on live audiences.

It was (mostly) recorded live off of the floor

Perhaps it goes without saying at this point, but when Wintersleep arrived at the Sonic Temple Recording Studio in Halifax, they had a pretty clear idea of what they wanted to achieve. They opted again to work with producer Tony Doogan, who has produced Belle & Sebastian and Mogwai in addition to the last three Wintersleep discs, but decided this time around to assume some production responsibilities themselves.

In an effort to pursue an organic sound, much of The Great Detachment was recorded live off of the floor; rather than taking turns in the recording booth and building their songs layer by layer, the band gathered around microphones in the room and performed the songs together, adding a few overdubs where necessary. By recording this way, the band are not only able to feed off of each other and the energy in the room, but also place an emphasis on the performance aspect of the music, essentially sculpting the sound for the stages they’ll grace across the continent.

Its title refers to a fresh start for the band

The Great Detachment represents a kind of new beginning for the band in a number of ways. On the surface, the title refers to parting ways with their longtime manager and former label, which was one of the reasons they were able to take their time to produce a record they felt was so strongly about. The gift of time gave them an opportunity to focus on their strengths, and they whittled a collection of some 40 to 50 songs down to 11 to take in to Sonic Temple.

“That’s where we recorded our second and our third album ... we thought it would be a good place to play as a band,” drummer Loel Campbell explained to Aesthetic Magazine last autumn. “About halfway into writing the record, we were able to go out and play some shows, and we were able to road test some of them, so that was part of the process in deciding what we were going to commit to putting on the record.”

For more on Wintersleep and their new album The Great Detachment, visit wintersleep.com or follow @wintersleep on Twitter. You have two chances to see them on tour this weekend between Lee’s Palace in Toronto on Friday, March 4 and the Casbah in Hamilton on Saturday. From there, the band head south to SXSW before completing their tour westward across Canada.

And for more of the latest music news, album streams and gigs coming to London, add @fsu_bobbyisms to your Twitter timeline. Take some time to listen to music today; I’m out of words.