Divide and Dissolve Release New Single 'Want' From Upcoming 'Systemic' Album

Divide and Dissolve’s Systemic is a thick wash of sound, equal parts beauty and anguish and creates a wholly encompassing experience for even a casual listener. You can feel the deep intention. Their dense sound is overwhelmingly heavy; a dissonant pounding of percussion, guitars, piano, synths and saxophone, interwoven with passages of orchestral beauty that give a feeling of respite. 

The album examines the systems that intrinsically bind us and calls for a system that facilitates life for everyone. It’s a message that fits with the band’s core intention: to make music that honours their ancestors and Indigenous land, to oppose white supremacy, and to work towards a future of Black and Indigenous liberation. 

Just ahead of its release tomorrow, Divide and Dissolve share Systemic’s palpable opener. “‘Want’ is a deep dive into longing within a decolonial framework,” tells saxophonist / guitarist Takiaya Reed. “We can want many things, but how will it happen? What is necessary, what systems must be broken in order for people to live?”

It comes alongside a third video from director Sepi Mashiahof who explains, “As ‘Want’ is the song that introduces us to ‘Systemic’, the concept for the video emulates this kind of infant yearning for worlds beyond our current heartbreaking reality.

There are so many beautiful textures above our heads that are inaccessible (as there are so many desired modes of existence that are inaccessible), and the rotation emphasizes the limbo of what that desire feels like. Trying to reach something, but succumbing to the loop of failure. Still, that infant yearning is persistent, and that compliments the need for hope and cements the importance of idealism as essential tools in our greater struggles for liberation.”

Like its predecessor Gas Lit, Systemic was produced by Ruban Neilson of Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Systemic was recorded as a duo and Takiaya says this new album is a continuation of 2021’s acclaimed Gas Lit. “Because of what was built with ‘Gas Lit’, ‘Systemic’ is able to express itself.” 

“The heaviness is really important,” Takiaya says. “It’s congruent with the message of the music, and the heaviness feels emblematic of this world’s situation.”

She continues, “This music is an acknowledgement of the dispossession that occurs due to colonial violence. The goal of the colonial project is to separate Indigenous people from their culture, their life force, their community and their traditions. The album is in direct opposition to this.”

As Takiaya emphasises, it’s crucial for their music to be instrumental. “I believe in the power of non-verbal communication,” she continues, “A huge percent of communication is non-verbal. We learn so much without using words.”  The exception to this on the album is one spoken word track, "Kingdom of Fear", that features writer and artist Minori Sanchiz-Fung who also contributed to previous Divide and Dissolve albums. 

Divide and Dissolve Live Dates:

Tickets and more info here.

Jul 07: AU, Sydney, Crowbar
Jul 08: AU, Brisbane, Brisbane Powerhouse
Jul 14: AU, Melbourne, The Curtin Bandroom
Jul 15: AU, Adelaide, Unsound x Illuminate Festival        
Aug 31: UK, Liverpool, District
Sep 01: UK, Leeds, Headrow House
Sep 02: UK, Birmingham, Supersonic festival
Sep 03: UK, Salisbury, End Of The Road festival
Sep 04: SCO, Glasgow, Broadcast
Sep 05: UK, Manchester, White Hotel
Sep 06: UK, Bristol, Strange Brew
Sep 07: UK, London, The Lower Third
Sep 08: BE, Gent, Trefpunt
Sep 09: LUX, Tetange, Human’s World festival
Sep 10: NL, Amsterdam, OCCII
Sep 12: NO, Oslo, Blå
Sep 13: SE, Gothenburg, The Abyss
Sep 14: SE, Stockholm, Slaktkyrkan
Sep 15: DK, Copenhagen, Alice
Sep 16: DK, Aalborg, Lasher fest
Sep 18: DE, Hamburg, MS Stubnitz
Sep 19: DE, Duisburg, Die Saule
Sep 20: FR, Lille, La Malterie
Sep 21: FR, Dijon, Consortium Museum
Sep 24: PT, Porto, Amplifest
Sep 27: DE, Nurnberg, Kantine / Softspot
Sep 28: CZ, Brno, Kabinet Muz
Sep 29: DE, Berlin, Decolonoize Fest 

Photo By Yatri Niehaus 

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