Anatomy of Habit "Even If It Takes A Lifetime" CD

CD packaged in a 6-panel digipak with artwork by Alexandra Lerman and layout by Jonathan Canady.

1. A Marginal World (6:39)
2. Your Pure Breath (14:09)
3. Now We Finally Know Ourselves (19:13)

The members of Anatomy of Habit are excited to announce the release of their third album, “Even If It Takes A Lifetime,” on Friday December 10, 2021. This will be the first of two new albums that they’ve completed and are preparing to share.

The band, which includes Alex Latus (guitar), Isidro Reyes (metal percussion), Skyler Rowe (drums), Mark Solotroff (vocals), and Sam Wagster (bass + lap steel), recorded both albums with Sanford Parker, shortly before the pandemic, while mixing (by Parker) and mastering (by Collin Jordan) were carried out during the long shutdown. Along with the band’s core instrumentation, listeners will hear piano, organ, analog synth, and vibraphone woven into the songs.

“Even If It Takes A Lifetime” includes three songs. Opener “A Marginal World” is the shortest song that the band has ever released, clocking in at under seven-minutes, and showing a greater urgency than often seen from Anatomy of Habit. Lyrically, it describes a distinctive bond between two people that ends with a sudden rupture. Things begin to stretch out with “Your Pure Breath,” a 14-minute song that ebbs and flows between calmer, slower passages and heavier sections that propel the listener into a more frenzied pace. The album then shifts gears, as the long, atmospheric beginning of “Now We Finally Know Ourselves” builds into a dense, psychedelic soundscape, from which the band emerges with their more familiar play with contrast, over the song’s 19-minutes.

Thematically, the album continues Solotroff’s reflections on love and loss, the creative process, the abstracted and vanishing self, and a sense of absolute obliteration. The potentially nostalgic album title may allude to a sense of hope and may indicate that all is not lost, or at least it may point to an inner drive to keep pushing forward.

The release date will be for the CD, handsomely packaged in a six-panel digipak designed by Jonathan Canady, a longtime creative associate of the band. A cassette version will also be released, with light blue shells and a four-panel insert. The packaging for all formats will incorporate a series of lush, corporeal cyanotypes by New York-based artist Alexandra Lerman, a close friend of Solotroff. The album will also arrive on all streaming platforms on December 10, 2021, and it will be followed by vinyl, as soon as the pressing is completed, taking into account ongoing interruptions in the industry. The vinyl street date will be announced at a later time.

Anatomy of Habit formed in Chicago in October 2008. Although the band has experienced significant changes since forming, this is their longest-standing and most prolific lineup. It’s no wonder that they’ve gelled the way they have. Rowe and Latus have known each other since they were teenagers, growing up in Indianapolis’ heavy music scene and playing together in the band Still. Rowe and Wagster have been creating a strong body of work together in the pastoral instrumental Mute Duo. Reyes and Solotroff are old friends who’ve played together in both BLOODYMINDED and The Fortieth Day, for many, many years. This deep connective tissue has contributed to consistently effortless writing sessions and solidly fused live performances.

Anatomy of Habit incorporates elements of doom metal, post-punk, death-rock, early-industrial, psychedelic, and shoegaze. The band's last album, "Ciphers + Axioms," was released by Relapse Records. Once “Even If It Takes A Lifetime” completes its full cycle, the band intend to follow up with their next album, “Black Openings.”

"Still apocalyptically heavy and thoughtfully complex" - Jon Rosenthal, Invisible Oranges (11/10/21)

“‘Your Pure Breath’ is an immersive, meditative, slow-building storm…” - Adem Tepedelen, Decibel (11/30/21)