Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Doom rock duo ICU releases new album 'The Less You Know...'


The artists of electronic doom rock known as ICU have released their new full-length album, “The Less You Know...” The record is the culmination of more than a decade's worth of collaboration between the musicians from Australia. It is categorized as doom rock, but has its heart and soul rooted the dark wave and industrial music of the early and mid- 1990s. Brooding, lurking, heavy-hitting and composed with unhealthy doses of menace and mayhem, “The Less You Know...” is a definitive work of the doom rock genre from down, way, way down under.

ICU has been producing their shadowy brand of electro-rock since 2000. They cite as main artistic influences the likes of Nine Inch Nails, Gary Numan, and the early work of Marilyn Manson, all of whom share many excellent qualities with the tone and style of “The Less You Know...” The record's main strength is in its broad swaths of instrumental orchestration, which is more complex and widely varied than Trent Reznor's, allowing for five-minute tracks that are profound, gripping, and never repetitive. Like classical music composed by a demonic android from a science-fiction horror story, “The Less You Know...” is terrifying yet beautiful, thundering yet serene, evocative of hellish imagery and delicate sorrow, and punctuated with moments of unlikely sensitivity that ebbs and flows like a tide.

Writing of the message their new album has for their listeners, ICU is very clear: “That the normalcy of popular music and what musical expression is perceived to be in the modern age should be challenged at all costs!”

More than a decade in the making, ICU's current sound is the result of perseverance over what the band's bio calls “several ups and downs, hangovers, name changes and break ups,” which tempered and molded their style over the years. These hurdles were not insignificant. Half of the creative force moved to the opposite coast of the continent. Like their music itself, they conquered through the use of modern technology.

“[We] took to transferring files via file sharing networks and surprisingly encountered very few limitations,” they write. “4000 kilometers didn’t seem to matter at all.”

Their artistic goals and principles were affected, likewise.

In moving forward with ICU, the musicians decided that “No one would become precious. Everything was open to evolution. And what was created would only serve itself.”

“The Less You Know...” by ICU is being made available online worldwide.

-S. McCauley
Staff Press Release Writer
MondoTunes

The LP “The Less You Know...” is distributed globally by MondoTunes (www.MondoTunes.com) and is available at iTunes for convenient purchase and download

MondoTunes (www.mondotunes.com) supplies the largest music distribution in the world and provides upstream services for many major labels in search of breakout artists. While most independent distributors reach only 45-50 retailers despite charging needless monthly and yearly fees, MondoTunes reaches over 750 retailers and mobile partners in over 100 world regions without any monthly or yearly fees.

ARTIST CONTACT INFO:

eMail –

icusound@gmail.com

website –

www.icusound.com

Twitter:

Lloyd Michael Hosier

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