The Portland-based four-piece Lithics are readying their Mating Surfaces LP for release on May 25th via Kill Rock Stars. The band is comprised of singer/guitarist Aubrey Hornor, guitarist Mason Crumley, bassist Bob Desaulniers, and drummer Wiley Hickson. Lithics previous LP Borrowed Floors came out in 2016 on Portland’s Water Wing Records, and they have two self-released EPs: 2017’s Wendy Kraemer and a self-titled debut effort from 2015. The band’s tightly wired post-punk is reminiscent of some of the best the genre had to offer in the late 70’s/early 80’s, but they focus the lens of their social critique squarely on the NOW.
Discussing their new track “Specs,” Lithics explain that the song is about the “presumptuous desire to know the details about a stranger’s personal life.” Distinguished by a taut interplay between nerve-wracked guitar work, the driving tension of low-end, and crisply simmering drums, Hornor’s disaffected vocals add to this cut’s cool veneer. The video for “Specs” was directed by the band themselves, and talking about it with Brooklyn Vegan this week, they demurely explained: “It was easy, literally anyone could have done it.” The DIY visuals were shot on a “grey winter morning,” and they find the band set-up in a cozy living room and walking around a chilly reservoir–with a cat cameo and some nose-blowing thrown in for good measure.
Lithics will head out on a US tour late in May, and they find the group playing a handful of headlining dates, as well as in support of Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks. Check out the band’s upcoming dates after the video embed below…
Lithics Tour Dates:
5/26 Portland, OR @ The Spare Room (Album Release Show)
5/29 Spokane, WA @ Baby Bar
5/31 Sioux Falls, SD @ Total Drag Records
6/01 St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club* (SOLD OUT)
6/02 Milwaukee, WI @ Colectivo Back Room* (SOLD OUT)
6/03 Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall* (SOLD OUT)
6/05 Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups* (SOLD OUT)
6/06 Pittsburgh, PA @ Rex Theater*
6/07 Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop*
6/08 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick*
6/09 Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace* (SOLD OUT)
6/11 Montreal, QC @ Theatre Fairmount*
6/12 Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair* (SOLD OUT)
6/13 Jamaica Plain, MA @ Deep Thoughts
6/14 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg* (SOLD OUT)
6/15 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg* (SOLD OUT)
6/16 Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of the Living Arts*
6/17 Washington DC @ Black Cat*
6/19 Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle*
6/20 Athens, GA @ The Georgia Theatre*
6/21 Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge*
6/22 Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar*
6/23 Cincinnati, OH @ The Woodward Theater*
6/24 St. Louis, MO @ Foam
6/26 Denver, CO @ Lost Lake
* w/ Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
