Drowse announces new LP, watch video for "Bipolar 1"

Drowse, the experimental slowgaze project heralded by multi-instrumentalist Kyle Bates, has shared the new single, “Bipolar 1,” this track is the latest teaser of Drowse’s forthcoming album Light Mirror.

Watch the naturescaping video for “Bipolar 1” below.

Bates comments about the video: “This song came to me while I was re-reading my medical chart and thinking about my bipolar 1 diagnosis. I have always resisted this diagnosis and I refused to take Lithium after the first couple of years. I resist it because I am scared of it. It fits too perfectly. As a result, I never sleep very well and sometimes have paranoid delusions (‘voices in the night’) that I hide from others.’Bipolar 1′ is largely about the manic self of bipolar disorder, a version of Kyle that feels totally alien to me when I try to remember periods of life when he was dominant. The manic side of me finds ‘god’ –meaning in life– in music, but the depressed side sees this as a delusion;

‘Bipolar 1’ is largely about the manic self of bipolar disorder, a version of Kyle that feels totally alien to me when I try to remember periods of life when he was dominant. The manic side of me finds ‘god’ –meaning in life– in music, but the depressed side sees this as a delusion; Drowse songs are identified as ‘fence posts:’ when I write these songs I feel safe because I am creating my own world, in turn working on this music builds a fence around me that closes me off further from other people.

The video was initially utilized–with Light Mirror in mind–for my installation work, Second Self, which was developed and exhibited during a residency at Studio Kura in Fukuoka, Japan. It was created through my practice of internal mapping, in this case cataloging physical things my unconscious self was drawn to while walking. Visual patterns emerged as hours of footage were edited down to this four minute piece. The footage was ripe with images of (self) deception–smoke and mirrors.“

Light Mirror — Track Listing and artwork:

1. Imposter Syndrome
2. Between Fence Posts
3. Shower Pt. 2
4. Bipolar 1
5. Physical World
6. A Song I Made in 2001 With My Friend Who is Now Dead
7. Arrow
8. Oslo
9. Internal World
10. Betty
11. “Don’t Scratch the Wound”

See Drowse on tour this July — a complete list of tour dates can be found below.

Drowse — On Tour:
June 13 Portland, OR @ Black Water Bar (Record Release)
July 12 Seattle, WA @ Highline *
July 13 Portland, OR @ High Water Mark *
July 15 Eugene, OR @ Old Nick’s *
July 16 Oakland, CA @ Elbo Room *
July 17 Los Angeles, CA @ Lexington *
July 18 San Diego, CA @ Space Bar *
July 19 Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge *
July 20 Albuquerque, NM @ Gold House *
July 21 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive *
July 22 Salt Lake City, UT @ Diabolical Records *
July 23 Boise, ID @ TBA *
July 24 Spokane/Olympia, WA @ TBA *