Last month, outsider art specialists Uniform laid out their plans to release their next full length, American Standard, August 23rd via Sacred Bones. The album asserts the band’s take of percussive-driven intensity, spearheaded by guitarist Ben Greenberg and anchored by the tandem drumming of Michael Sharp and Michael Blume. 

The presentation showcases the articulate, aggressive compositions of Greenberg while establishing a musical bedrock for vocalist and original member Michael Berdan to explore personal trauma on what amounts to an especially poignant effort. 

Coupled with the news of the album, Uniform offered the introductory single, “This Is Not A Prayer” - which frames a harrowing depiction of Berdan's battle with bulimia nervosa - setting the tone for what is assuredly the most personal work from Uniform to date. 

Sharing the album's final entry, Uniform have delivered yet another commanding statement with the single, "Permanent Embrace". An apocalyptic meld of hellacious riffs and the menacing, tortured vocal catharsis of Michael Berdan, the track is terrifying jaunt that explores themes of manipulation, fear and subversion in a violent 4-minute assault. 

Berden explains, “It touches on a facet of the disease that I’m incredibly wary of facing. Built on a narrative foundation laid out by author and lyrical collaborator Maggie Siebert, the song revolves around the idea of a person holding a loved one as an emotional hostage. Seeing perverse beauty in a story about a car crash, the narrator relates the analogy of two automobiles twisted together to that of his last standing relationship. As he has broken down over time, so has the one who continues to stand by him. The object of his manipulative guilt trips remains locked in a hopeless situation, terrified of what he may do to himself if they were to finally leave."

Berden went onto explain how the finished product became an unintended tribute to one of their creative influences. "The music reflects the psychic violence of the lyrics, as riffs and rhythms that wouldn’t feel out of place in the Unsane catalog careen into giant synth melodies before collapsing into itself. This is kind of our misguided interpretation of what Faith No More were doing on ‘Angel Dust’, and we hope that our tip of the hat to those masters of madness can hold a candle to their horrific splendor.”

Along with the debut of the latest track, Uniform have teamed with director Sean Stout to craft a compelling visual that best conveys the duality of the track. The director explained how the thematic tone of the record was something he took to heart when constructing his portion of the project. 

"Without sounding trite, when we first read Mike’s lyrics to the record our reaction was extremely visceral. They are brutally introspective and beautiful at times and we wanted to try visually to convey that range of emotion in a sequence of single images that unfold narratively and potentially shift their own meaning over time. Our concept was to intertwine images of an outer world-overgrown, rusting and moving on in its decay-with an inter-world that is largely going through the same process as a result, but is markedly separate as well. We never see one observe or interact with the other, yet they are the same and of the same world.”

Paired with the confirmation of the new album, Uniform has confirmed a slate of live dates in support of the release. Set dates with Poison Ruin, LEYA and World Peace  Uniform will showcase selections from American Standard live starting with an album release show August 30th in New York. The band will then take on a concise West Coast stretch of tour dates, wrapping September 10th in Tacoma, WA before heading overseas for a run of European dates. See the complete list of dates and cities below.

American Standard lands August 23rd via Sacred Bones. Order the album - HERE