Formed in 2015, the Canadian progressive rock duo Crown Lands have garnered acclaim in recent years with their self-titled debut album released in 2020, followed by the brilliant 2023 follow-up, Fearless. Now signed to InsideOutMusic, the Juno Award-winning group is poised to take the next step in their journey. While the duo, made up of vocalist and drummer Cody Bowles and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Comeau, work on their third studio album, they are first set to release a pair of ambitious instrumental albums titled Ritual I & Ritual II. Both albums are layered with drums, synths, and various bits of percussion to create a complex tapestry of music unlike anything they have created before.
Recorded during the uncertain period of the pandemic, with the band unable to enter the studio or tour, Bowles and Comeau looked for a creative outlet. “I suppose this record became our act of defiance against stagnation, in a time when so many familiar lights around us flickered out in the deafening silence. It was a glimmer in our darkness,” claims Bowles. “Ritual I was made during a tumultuous time in our lives, alongside producer Justin Meli in our little B Room at Chalet Recording Studios. It served as a reprieve from the upending haze of the pandemic, far from the high-pressure studio sessions that typically accompanied the pursuit of our mainstream sound.