The Adult Swim singles series is a great idea that’s happened for the last several years. Each summer for 16 weeks, the series releases a brand new exclusive track from a tastemaker band. While this year’s series kicked off last month with a single from Giorgio Moroder, it’s heavy offerings include a track from Mastodon with the Butthole Surfers’ Gibby Haynes, Deafheaven and Diarrhea Planet. But the one that metal fans were looking most forward to comes from Sleep, the seminal stoner rock band where High On Fire’s Matt Pike cut his teeth, which hasn’t released music in 20 years. “The Clarity” will be available for free download on Monday via Adult Swim’s website, but today, NPR premiered the song, along with an interview from the band.
“The Clarity” is a nearly 10-minute song that’s epic and doomy. While it starts out sounding like a fax or a dot matrix printer, it morphs into a classically heavy riff that doesn’t let up in tempo or heaviness throughout. As NPR notes, while the song is doomy as fuck, it’s produced really nicely. When asked if the song is a lyrical follow-up to their last album, the one-track Dopesmoker, the band replies “‘The Clarity’ is a lyrical follow-up to a lifetime of marijuana enjoyment.” Yup – sounds about right. Sleep said they put together the song in a couple of days, and the band, which now includes Neurosis’ Jason Roeder along with singer/bassist Al Cisneros, will record the new album in the same manner.
[UPDATE: you can now download the song here.]
