Cult of Luna Announce New EP

Cult of Luna, one of those bands that seems somehow incapable of not being awesome, announced some big news today: they’re starting their own label, Red Creek. Their releases will be distributed in North America by Metal Blade, the venerated label that released the band’s most recent album, last year’s A Dawn to Fear.

Better still: Red Creek’s debut release, coming February 5, will be The Raging River, a new five-song Cult of Luna EP… and one of those songs, “Inside of a Dream,” will include guest vocals by Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age). The last time CoL employed a singer from outside the band, we got Mariner. So yeah I’m excited to hear this.

And before you bitch and moan that The Raging River is “just” an EP, keep in mind that Cult of Luna songs tend to be on the long side — in fact, Mariner only has five tracks, and it still clocks in at nearly an hour. So while I don’t know this for sure, I’m guessing River will be a satisfying main course and not just a mouth-watering appetizer.

Says the band of their new label:

 “After more than 20 years of touring, releasing albums and experiencing different kinds of deals and aspects of the music industry, we believed that it was the right time for us to seek more freedom and to reduce the distance between us and our audience. 

“So, in 2020, Red Creek was born. It has been created as a safe home for our art, but we wanted to do more and offer our experience, expertise and network to the artists we love and believe in. Therefore, we gathered talents and partners around us to create a crafted solution to our needs that is adaptable also to the needs of other artists. 

“Red Creek will be our home; if you’ve been with us for 20 years or 2 days, this will be your home too.”

Of The Raging River, they add:

“The Raging River feels more like a bridge. A midpoint that needs to be crossed so we can finish what we started with 2019’s A Dawn to Fear. It’s been an interesting, as well as an introspective, way of working, having our instinct leading the way and then having to figure out where it takes us. But not only has it been a linear journey; some aspects of it are also clearly circular. For example, we have been a fan of Mark Lanegan for many years. So in 2005, when we wrote the song ‘And With Her Came the Birds,’ we had his voice in mind, and the working title was ‘The Lanegan Song.’ But we were not many years over 20, and our lack of self-confidence prevented us from even daring to ask. It took fifteen years for us to get the guts to ask him. Hearing his voice on ‘Inside of a Dream’ is nothing more than feeling that we’re inside of a dream.” 

The tracklist and cover art for The Raging River are below. A “preview” of the EP is “coming soon” — I dunno if that means a single or just a teaser or something. But you can already place pre-orders here (North American limited edition pre-order; vinyl & CD)  or here (limited editions, band merch & more).

1. “Three Bridges”
2. “What I Leave Behind”
3. “Inside of a Dream” (featuring Mark Lanegan)
4. “I Remember”
5. “Wave After Wave”