Chad VanGaalen Shares New Track

07 September, 2017
Written by Marky Edison

Chad VanGaalen has shared ‘Mind Hijacker’s Curse’, another highlight from his forthcoming sixth album, Light Information, which comes out on September 8 via Sub Pop. VanGaalen says of the song: “’Mind Hijacker’s Curse’ is the outcome and side effect of vacationing inside of another organism’s consciousness. Once we can do this, I see the potential to forget your physical self and just live inside of some other beings mind. Hook me up to the fungal web that allows entire forests to communicate. I imagine the dolphin package would be very popular...”

For an album that’s about “not feeling comfortable with really anything,” as VanGaalen says, his sixth album, Light Information, is nonetheless a vivid, welcoming journey through future worlds and relentless memories. Throughout the dark-wave reverb of Light Information are stories of paranoia, disembodiment, and isolation--but there’s also playfulness, empathy, and intimacy. The rich soundscapes and sometimes jarring imagery 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, Tanya Tagaq, METZ, Dan Deacon, and The Head and the Heart, and produced records for Women, Alvvays, and others.

As always, VanGaalen wrote, played, and produced all of the music on Light Information at his home studio in Calgary, Canada, (save Ryan Bourne’s bass part on ‘Mystery Elementals’ and vocals on ‘Static Shape’ from his young daughters Ezzy and Pip). And of course he designed the cover art and animated the official video for ‘Pine and Clover’.