LVL UP share track off forthcoming LP

LVL UP share track "Hidden Driver" off forthcoming full-length 'Return To Love'

LVL UP LVL UP — guitarists Mike Caridi and Dave Benton, bassist Nick Corbo, and drummer Greg Rutkin have shared “Hidden Driver,” the latest from their upcoming third album and first for Sub Pop, Return To Love.

“Hidden Driver,” is the opening track of LVL UP’s third album and Sub Pop debut Return to Love, starts with unassuming guitars and vocals adds new lines, depths, and intensity, until its unrestrained, triumphant finish. “God is peeking, softly speaking,” repeats the chorus, working through the relationship between spirituality and creative inspiration.

“We have very different inspirations across the board,” says Benton, noting his own admiration for the writer and documentarian Astra Taylor, Corbo’s interest in the mystical and the occult, and Caridi’s attention to personal storytelling. The music itself grows from a shared melodic and experimental sensibility, as well as a nod to iconic influences like Neutral Milk Hotel and Mount Eerie. But each songwriter has a different vision every step of the way, and there isn’t always alignment–it shouldn’t make sense, but in the end it does.

LVL UP was formed in 2011 at SUNY Purchase as a recording project between Caridi, Benton, and their friend Ben Smith, with the original intention of releasing a split cassette with Corbo’s then-solo material. They instead released that album, Space Brothers, as one band, and Rutkin joined shortly afterwards for the group’s first show. Smith left the band for personal reasons just before the release of second album Hoodwink’d, a joint release on Caridi and Benton’s label Double Double Whammy and Exploding in Sound. DDW also put out records from other artists in the tight-knit community that launched the band.

“There’s not really a town associated with the school, so there’s no bar or club that you could go play in easily,” says Corbo. “But there was a student center on campus that was all student run. That was a great place to play, and also take care of a lot of practical issues like a place to put your stuff and a place to practice weekly. It was almost like an incubator situation for us and a lot of other bands — it gave us a little bit of experience and confidence, so it wasn’t as scary when we decided to go on tour for the first time.”

Also part of that university community was Return to Love’s producer Mike Ditrio, who mixed LVL UP’s previous records and “was basically a fifth member of the band,” says Corbo. “He played a huge role in developing the sound, without butting in too much. He also navigated our personal dynamic really nicely.”

Some of that material, including “Naked in the River with the Creator,” made it onto the album. “I ultimately made this half-drone, half-really loud guitar song, because it was an idea I had floating around in my head but never got around to doing until I had to write a song in a day,” says Corbo. “The thing that pulled me through was grasping onto words and images, but instead of pulling from an infinite sea of all the images that you could pull from, it’s easier to constrict yourself a little bit.”

VL UP
RETURN TO LOVE
SUB POP
SEPTEMBER 23, 2016

1. Hidden Driver
2. Blur
3. She Sustains Us
4. Spirit Was
5. Pain
6. The Closing Door
7. Five Men on the Ridge
8. Cut from the Vine
9. I
10. Naked in the River with the Creator

Tour Dates:
9/7 – New Brunswick, NJ @ The Saint
9/8 – Harrisonburg, VA @ Crayola House
9/9 – Richmond, VA @ Gallery 5
9/10 – Raleigh, NC @Hopscotch Festival
9/11 – Washington, DC @ DC9 +
9/20 – Boston, MA @ Great Scott
9/21 – Montreal, QC @ Pop Montreal (Bar Le “Ritz” PDB) ~
9/22 – Burlington, VT @ Arts Riot ~
9/23 – Durham, NH @ University of New Hampshire
9/24 – New York, NY @ Market Hotel %
9/25 – Philadelphia, PA @ PhilaMOCA
9/28 – New Haven, CT @ Bar
9/29 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom ^
9/30 – Kingston, NY @ BSP Kingston
10/11 – Minneapolis, MN @ Dagger
10/14 – Missoula, MT @ Palace Lounge
10/15 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux
10/16 – Olympia, WA @ Track House
10/17 – Seattle, WA @ The Black Lodge
10/18 – Portland, OR @ Analog Cafe
10/20 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill ^
10/21 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill ^
10/22 – Pomona, CA @ VLHS
10/23 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echoplex ^
10/24 – Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge
10/26 – Denver, CO @ Hi Dive
10/28 – Bloomington, IN @ The Void
10/29 – Gambier, OH @ Kenyon College
10/30 – Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar *
11/1 – Nashville, TN @ The High Watt *
11/2 – Birmingham @ The Syndicate Lounge *
11/3 – New Orleans, LA @ Siberia *
10/4 – Austin, TX @ TBA
10/5 – San Antonio, TX @ The Paper Tiger
11/6 – Dallas, TX @ Three Links *
11/8 – Kansas City @ Davey’s Upstairs *
11/9 – Omaha, NE @ Milk Run *
11/10 – Madison, WI @ The Frequency *
11/11 – Chicago, IL @ Subterranean *
11/12 – Lansing, MI @ The Blind Pig *

+ w/ All Dogs
~ w/ Eskimeaux
% Record Release Show w/ Ovlov and Vagabon
^ w/ Bear Vs Shark
* w/ Alex G and Brandon Can’t Dance

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