After five years of unintended hibernation, Indie icon, Ben Kweller, returns with some of the strongest music of his career. He didn't go away just because; he was fifteen minutes away from death. “We almost died” Kweller says, “Me, Lizzy, our two boys ... dead. We wouldn't be here if Liz hadn't woken us up that night.” He is referring to an ill-fated trip to the mountains of New Mexico, back in 2013. The family went on what was meant to be a winter wonderland vacation and instead suffered acute carbon monoxide poisoning.

“We were in this sweet little cabin and in the middle of the night, Lizzy woke up and said, 'Ben, get up! Something's wrong-I feel horrible,'” Kweller says. “I immediately jumped out of bed and collapsed to the ground. We instinctively crawled to the front door and opened it. Fresh air rushed in the cabin. I called 911. We grabbed the boys out of bed, trying to shake them awake, and managed to get everyone outside in the snow. The boys were crying and falling in and out of consciousness-it was like something out of a horror film” Kweller says. “When the ambulances arrived, they tested our blood and said our CO levels were so high, we were 15 minutes away from not waking up. Fifteen minutes! We spent the next day in the hospital on pure oxygen and days after that feeling lethargic and mush-brained. When we got back home, I was an incapacitated zombie. I told my team to cancel everything. I was done.”

As the months rolled on, Kweller began to battle depression as a result of the poisoning. There was a period where the ‘Sundress’ singer didn't think he'd ever see the stage again. "I just didn't care-I didn't want to play music anymore," Kweller says. “I didn't want to leave my family's side, and for the first time in my life I was scared. When you almost die, everything changes, and all the unimportant shit disappears. Luckily, I kept writing songs and they got me through some really dark places. Eventually I had 50 ready to go but I was still reluctant to start the machine back up again. A close friend of mine called me up and said, 'Just come over and let's record something together. Even if it's just a demo, maybe it'll make you feel better.'”

That close friend was producer and songwriter, Dwight A. Baker (Misseo, Brandi Carlile). One thing led to another and the two ended up co-producing an entire album. The album is called Circuit Boredom and, lucky for us, it will be released! The first single, “Heart Attack Kid” is available now with a music video co-directed by Superorganism's Robert Stange.

A major turning point that convinced Kweller to put music back into the world, was the loss of his friend, Anton Yelchin. The two had a close bond and even shared the silver screen in Rudderless, a music-based drama directed by William H. Macy. “I'm still in awe of Anton's creative output and all that he achieved in such a short period of time” Kweller says. “One of my best friends, gone in the blink of an eye-it woke me up. I knew I had to overcome my own trauma and do what I was born to do. Plus, Anton would've thought it rude if I didn't share these songs.”

Online now is the stunning new video from Tau. The track and video, both by design and happy accident, represent an exploration of Irish culture and family history through the eyes and ears of the bands linchpin, Sean Mulrooney. “Basically it’s like my past, present and future has merged. I couldn’t do it better if I tried. The tree in the video is over 100 years old, my grandad, my dad, me, and my nephews all had a strong connection to it. It’s a Spanish Sweet Chestnut. We had no intention of featuring my parents in the video, I was visiting Ireland, doing normal stuff, cleaning and such, and the director just start shooting. My Mother has dementia, so I thought it could be good to make light of that too.”

Taken from the new album, Tau And The Drones Of Praise, ‘Craw’ is a haunting neo-folk tinged ancestral evocation. Tau is the Berlin-based collective surrounding Dublin-born musician and songwriter Sean Mulrooney. Going deeper into his roots, ‘Craw’ is derived from the old Irish idiom “something’s stuck in yer craw!” - something that needs to be purged or set free - the track itself stands as an inimitable jewel within the new album’s treasure chest.

It shows Mulrooney's vulnerability in accepting that his outward venture to find hidden knowledge, has led him finally back to his own Irish tribe and heritage. The string section, composed by Rory McKee, is what makes this track truly remarkable: it is at once hollow, stabbing and tender and recalls John Cale’s eerie arrangements for Nick Drake.

New album, Tau and the Drones of Praise, aims to filter out the cacophony and confusion of the current way of living. It offers studious ruminations of the invisible, crossed with the wall-of-sound psychedelic drone arrangements that are at the very core of the Tau project. Presenting flaming new visions with many musical alchemists such as: Afrofuturist legend Idris Ackamoor of The Pyramids, the pioneers of the present generation of Indian classical music, Lalitha and Nandini (aka the LN Sisters), and long-term collaborator Earl Harvin (Tindersticks).

Sean Mulrooney was a centripetal force in Berlin's early-2010's motley psych crew, a time when a short-lived period of renaissance was abound in the city. He was instrumental in linking old masters of German krautrock with new recruits and as a result, produced Mueran Humanos' and Camera's first record. His involvement with other luminaries (Damo Suzuki, Dead Skeletons, NEU's Michael Rother) developed an identifiable sound during this period that was uniquely Berlin-Scene.