This month, Incubus rediscovered one of their most beloved albums with its release Morning View XXIIIa track-by-track re-recording of their 2001 album — and the process of returning to their fourth studio album may finally accelerate the release of their ongoing ninth album.
“This new version [of Morning View] it was also a leap, because we've been steadily working on new music for the past few months,” says Incubus guitarist Mike Einziger. Advertising sign during a Zoom chat earlier this month. The band's recent tour of Australia, New Zealand and Asia “took us away from that process for a while,” Einziger continues, “but we're jumping right back into it. All of this has reinvigorated us in ways that are new, that will lead to new music from us that is different from the music we've made before.”
Before Incubus started the 2017 sequel reveal 8however, they felt the need to revisit it Morning viewwhich included alt-rock hits like “Wish You Were Here” and “Nice to Know You,” and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 upon its release in October 2001. Singer Brandon Boyd says that the band originally wanted to celebrate the 20th anniversary Morning viewbut that the pandemic prohibited any extensive plans in 2021.
“So we did this livestream event from the room where we wrote and recorded the record, and it was a really fun challenge,” says Boyd. “I was listening to the live recording and it was good — but for me it wasn't special enough. And then we started toying with the idea of recording it properly.”
This thought came back last October, after the Incubus show Morning view in its entirety during a one-off show at the Hollywood Bowl. “It felt like a genuine, very authentic connection from the audience to a group of songs we wrote a long time ago,” adds Einziger. “And it made me that much more excited about the idea of re-recording those songs.”
The stylistic changes Morning view XXIII they're fan-friendly: “Echo,” for example, gives a full extra minute to a blistering outro that had recently become a staple, while the slow build of opener “Nice to Know You” gets taut and more muscular. Meanwhile, the addition of new bassist Nicole Row, who officially took over from longtime bassist Ben Kenney last year, has “reengaged” the rest of the band with her energy, Boyd says. “Re-recording this record reminded us again how lucky we are to be able to write music in a room, with people we love and admire.”
At the end of August, Incubus will embark on a 10-date arena run, performing the entire Morning view as well as other hits from their catalog. Meanwhile, the band will continue to stay away on their next album, which will end Incubus' longest drought between studio albums since its release.
“We've already written half a record,” says Boyd. “We've got another 30 ideas that we're still scrapping and we feel like we're just getting started. I think the plan is to keep writing, [and] probably start recording while writing. The way people seem to absorb music now is so much different than back then Morning view came out — we don't need to have a full album to start releasing songs. … It's fun to listen to an album front to back to see the full vision of the artist, but that doesn't mean we can't put out a single or two while we're still writing the record, so that's probably what we're going to do” I am doing.”
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/incubus-morning-view-next-album-1235690199/
