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Light Information (Canada)

by Chad VanGaalen

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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $9 CAD  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Now available for preorder! This album will ship to you before the release date of September 8. The first round of LPs will be pressed on a limited crystal clear vinyl.

    NOTE: This page is for Canadian orders only. For orders to other territories, please visit subpop.bandcamp.com

    Includes unlimited streaming of Light Information (Canada) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 4 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $19 CAD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Now available for preorder! This album will ship to you before the release date of September 8.

    NOTE: This page is for Canadian orders only. For orders to other territories, please visit subpop.bandcamp.com

    Includes unlimited streaming of Light Information (Canada) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 4 days
    8 remaining
    Purchasable with gift card

      $12 CAD or more 

     

  • Cassette + Digital Album

    Now available for preorder! This album will ship to you before the release date of September 8.

    NOTE: This page is for Canadian orders only. For orders to other territories, please visit subpop.bandcamp.com

    Includes unlimited streaming of Light Information (Canada) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 4 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $8 CAD or more 

     

  • T-Shirt/Apparel

    Hey, it's the cover of Light Information, drawn by Chad VanGaalen, now available in a convenient apparel format!

    Printed on a black unisex Alstyle Premium tee

    Size chart S M L XL XXL
    Body Length 27 29 31 32 33
    Body Width 18 20 22 24 26
    Sleeve Length 7.75 8.25 9 9.5 9.5
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $22 CAD or more 

     

  • Fire Pit Black T-Shirt
    T-Shirt/Apparel

    American Apparel 100% cotton t-shirt.
    DOES NOT come with a full album download.

    Sold Out

1.
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Host Body 04:10
5.
6.
Old Heads 03:37
7.
8.
Faces Lit 02:13
9.
10.
You Fool 03:45
11.
Broken Bell 03:34
12.
Static Shape 04:10

about

"Nobody cared about their old heads, because the new ones work just fine now, don't they?.... they have the same size mouth and eyes."

The song “Old Heads” is a sci-fi space anthem to technology that constantly replaces itself, proving both necessary and unnecessary at the same time. It’s also a jangly pop gem, a trip through the fantastical that is ultimately warm and relatable. This remarkable coexistence is one of many achievements of Chad VanGaalen’s 'Light Information', his sixth record, due September 8th.

For an album that’s about “not feeling comfortable with really anything,” as Van Gaalen says, 'Light Information' is nonetheless a vivid, welcoming journey through future worlds and relentless memories. The rich soundscapes and sometimes jarring imagery (“I’ll be the host body, yes, for the parasitic demons. They can eat me from the inside out, I already hear them chewing.”) could only come from the mind of a creative polymath--an accomplished visual artist, animator, director, and producer, VanGaalen has scored television shows, designed puppet characters for Adult Swim, directed videos for Shabazz Palaces, Strand of Oaks, METZ, Dan Deacon, and The Head and the Heart, and produced records for Women, Alvvays, and others.

While alienation has always been a theme of VanGaalen’s music, 'Light Information' draws on a new kind of wisdom--and anxiety--gained as he watches his kids growing up. “Being a parent has given me a sort of alternate perspective, worrying about exposure to a new type of consciousness that's happening through the internet,” he says. “I didn’t have that growing up, and I’m maybe trying to preserve a little bit of that selfishly for my kids.”

As always, VanGaalen wrote, played, and produced all of the music on 'Light Information' (save Ryan Bourne’s bass part on “Mystery Elementals” and vocals on “Static Shape” from his young daughters Ezzy and Pip), and designed the cover art. The product of six years’ work, going back even before 2014’s 'Shrink Dust', 'Light Information' emerged from the experimental instruments that fill the VanGaalen’s Calgary garage studio. Among them is a beloved Korg 770 monosynth, which VanGaalen coveted for years before fixing one up and devoting a lot of recent energy to recording “duets” with it. One of these, “Prep Piano and 770,” is the lone instrumental on 'Light Information', more atmosphere and chord bursts than the rest of the album’s hooky rock narrative.

“If I was going to go out and buy a record, I would probably want it to sound only like that,” says VanGaalen. “That one’s for me.”

Throughout the dark-wave reverb of 'Light Information' are stories of paranoia, disembodiment, and isolation--but there’s also playfulness, empathy, and intimacy. “I sit and do a drawing, a portrait of my dad,” sings VanGaalen on “Broken Bell.” “I should really visit him before he is dead. Cuz we are getting old. Our cells just won’t divide like they told us. But I’m not really good at this kind of thing.”

But VanGaalen is good at a lot of things--and he’s trying to pursue them for the right reasons. “I'm just trying to get over the weight of feeling like I have to be making something of my time constantly,” he says. “Especially with kids, you get these small breaks where you get to make stuff, and now I try to say ‘you know what, I'm going to make something for me.’”

And if he could make anything for himself, it would be without constraint. “I would love to build a living structure from scratch,” he says. “I've slowly been ripping my studio apart and building additions, but you're always kind of down to this box. I’d love to explore more open forms of architecture, with an endless supply of materials to use, even garbage. Building codes keep us in these boxes--You can't just build a giant hand made out of wood that's the size of a house to live in. But we really should be able to do that.”

credits

released September 8, 2017

Ryan Bourne plays Bass Guitar on Mystery Elemental

Ezzy and Pip sing on Static Shape

Mastered by Harris Newman

Written and recorded by Chad VanGaalen

Thanks to Chris Dadge, Ryan Bourne, Scott Munro for playing these songs live

Thanks to my family and friends for making time for this

Thanks to Flemish Eye and Sub Pop for believing in this

All drawings by Chad VanGaalen

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Chad VanGaalen Calgary, Alberta

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