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Do Make Say Think announce Stubborn Persistent Illusions, incoming on Constellation 19 May

March 12, 2017

DO MAKE SAY THINK ANNOUNCE STUBBORN PERSISTENT ILLUSIONS,
THE GROUP’S FIRST ALBUM IN EIGHT YEARS, INCOMING ON CONSTELLATION 19 MAY
Do Make Say Think has been widely celebrated as one of the preeminent instrumental rock bands of the 90s-00s. Stubborn Persistent Illusions is the group’s first album in eight years – and a stellar addition to one of the most consistent, inventive, exuberant, satisfying, and critically acclaimed discographies in the ‘post-rock’ canon.

  Following Other Truths (2009), the five members of DMST pursued other creative projects, while all continuing to stay firmly rooted in Toronto. An invite from Heartland Festival and Constellation to play the label’s 15th Anniversary shows in Europe in fall 2012 brought DMST back to the stage in very fine form – the band worked up a bevy of gems from their catalogue and absolutely killed live. A rekindling was sparked, leading to new writing and recording sessions throughout 2014-2016. Overdubbing, ‘underdubbing’, gestating and mixing was helmed by band members Ohad Benchetrit, Charles Spearin and Justin Small at Ohad’s studio th’Schvitz: Stubborn Persistent Illusions is a reminder and continuation of the group’s DIY ethos, and the integral role played by their singular self-production acumen and aesthetic.
  Do Make Say Think has a well-earned reputation for imbuing their instrumental music with soulful and emotive narrative power that doesn’t rely on obvious tropes or bombastic dynamics. Among the band’s special strengths is an ineffable naturalism that avoids anything too woolly, proggy, purist or clichéd, while remaining a fundamentally guitar-driven group whose ornate four- and six-string interplay balances rockism, pastoralism and electronic-influenced post-production in a class of its own. Stubborn Persistent Illusions is built from this distinctive toolkit, at once familiar and as fresh as anything DMST has committed to tape. A short Bhuddist poem about boundlessness and recurrence informs this profoundly imagistic listening experience, amplified by the beautiful commissioned paintings of the deluxe gatefold album art. As the band tells it, “There is a hint of narrative on this album which is both vague and deliberate. The idea comes from an image in a Buddhist poem about working with a wild mind. The idea is that each song is a thought or daydream, independent but at the same time connected to the other thoughts through subconscious feelings. And although the thoughts come and go, the feelings return over and over throughout our lives. The suggestion in the poem is that when your mental chatter carries you away you don’t necessarily need to tie it down or shut it up; you can instead recognize thoughts as thoughts and let them play out. Eventually all concepts must return to perception, where they started.  We should probably say again that this narrative is admittedly a bit wooly around the edges – we don’t pretend that every note has a special significance.
  Stubborn Persistent Illusions testifies to the idea that an honest conviction in the communicative power of instrumental rock need not imply pretension, escapism, faux naiveté or nostalgia. Do Make Say Think enter their third decade with a new album that helps reaffirm the promise of genuinely emotive, narrative, restorative and life-affirming instrumental rock music – and will surely rank among their best.

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