Devin Townsend is Plotting an Empath Live Release for October
Devin Townsend had some elaborate touring plans for this year and beyond that involved different lineups of live musicians for different runs to help him bring different sections of his vast catalogue to life. While much of those plans had to be scrapped due to the you-know-what– for now, at least, but likely forever knowing the pace at which Devin’s creative mind moves on — at least one of those lineups will be immortalized with a proper release.
Recorded in December 2019 in London, UK on the penultimate night of the tour in support of his latest album, Empath, Devin will release Order Of Magnitude – Empath Live Volume 1 on October 23. This run of shows saw Devin joined by guitarists Mike Kenneally (ex-Frank Zappa) and Markus Reuter (Stick Men, The Crimson Project), drummer Morgen Agren (Kaipa, Mats & Morgan, Frank Zappa), bassist Nathan Navarro, Haken keyboard player Diego Tejeida, and guitarist/vocalist Ché Aimee Dorval, as well as vocalists Samantha & Anne Preis and Arabella Packford. The same lineup was on tour in North America in February and March when shit hit the fan, and all the shows were done without the backing tapes and click tracks that usually keep Devin’s shows on the grid, resulting in a more human, off the cuff feel (having seen the show in Brooklyn, I can confirm).
Says Devin of the upcoming release:
“The whole objective was that I wanted to make that statement: This is by the seat our pants. Because it’s important to me to represent this hyper anal-retentive music that I’ve made over the years, but in a human way. Rather than it just being, ‘Well, here it is, perfectly done.’
“I was overwhelmed by the fact that all these brilliant people that I have so much respect for were willing to come together and play this weird shit with me. I had these unique players and this interesting instrumentation that allowed us to interpret the music in different ways. It was clear to me that I could just have fun and be me and know that they would be effortlessly be able to follow that.”
Pre-orders aren’t live yet for some reason (missed opportunity) but will be come August 28 along with a clip from the release. Here is the track list:
- “Borderlands”
- “Evermore”
- “War”
- “Sprite”
- “Gigpig Jam”
- “Coast”
- “Gato”
- “Heavens End”
- “Ain’t Never Gonna Win”
- “Deadhead”
- “Why?”
- “Lucky Animals”
- “Castaway/Genesis”
- “Spirits Will Collide”
- “Disco Inferno”
- “Kingdom”
