Blessed Announce “Anything” Photo Book; Share Live Video

Progressive rock band Blessed hit the road this week with Stuck in support of their latest, avant-rock gem Circuitous – which is available now via Flemish Eye. This time around Blessed bring their jaw-dropping live experience across Canada, down the West Coast, Texas, Chicago and more. See below for a full list of dates and grab tickets here.

Circuitous, the band’s second full-length is a rich, moving and committed piece of work that expands on their eclectic discography. Blessed have sharpened their strengths, bringing everchanging depth and expansion to their song craft. The result is a sweeping, hyperreal, industrial art-rock tragedy, rendered in walls of noise, controlled drums, meandering ambience, and staccato syncopation. 

The album’s artwork is the band’s most ambitious step into the visual world to date. They teamed up with longtime collaborator, digital artist Nathan Donovan and Jacob Dutton, to direct and design all original art and videos for the record, centering on a nameless, childlike robot that embodies very specific, subtle and uncanny expressions. The robot appears on the record’s cover and in their recent video / visuals for acclaimed singles “Redefine” and “Anything”. 

Today Blessed announce their photo and art book, ANYTHING, which gives fans a high quality look at the imagery and process behind Donovan and Dutton’s creation of Circuitous’s artwork. ANYTHING is a 9×12, 58 page collection with a moving forward by Ariel Esteban Cayer titled “Do Androids Dream Of Greener Pastures?”. The book comes accompanied with a digital copy of the album. Preview the book here and for more information or to pre-order it, go here.

Pulled from hours of jam material and hundreds of demos, Circuitous’s eight tracks sprawl and thrash and burst and fall, sometimes for nearly eight minutes – lyrically speaking to agoraphobia, isolation, grief, the hyper-control of capital and the numbness it breeds. Blessed recorded Circuitous during winter 2020-2021 at Vancouver’s Rain City Recorders with Matt Roach and Emily Ryan. The record was mixed by John Congleton (Swans, St. Vincent, Wye Oak) and mastered by Greg Obis (Alabaster Deplume, Cloud Nothings). The group experimented with two different drum setups, eventually blending the two within a single song. The record builds on Blessed’s commitment to creativity, introducing more synthesizers, programming, MIDI, sequencers, and experimentation in arrangements. 

Following the release of their live recording for album standout “Trust”, Blessed share “Anything (Live)” – the second installment of their Circuitous live sessions. The series captures the band live at BNB Studios and No Fun Club in Winnipeg.