There are about 15-seconds of quiet that open "Saudade," the brand new song from St. Pete post-rock instrumental five-piece Set and Setting. After that, the seven-and-a-half-minute cut just starts unfolding into a beautiful avalanche of devastatingly heavy riffs, lead guitar and the band's distinct dual drum attack.
It's the opening track of Set and Setting's new album, Reflectionless, due on January 27.
"We have been playing some of the songs live for over a year," guitarist Shane Handal told CL, adding that the band has been writing them for about two years. "We are very excited to finally release something new, everything takes so long to properly record."
Recording happened at Black Bear Studios in Gainesville and Rock Garden Recording in St. Petersburg. The album was engineered and mixed by Ryan Haft and mastered by Ed Brooks at Resonant Mastering.
The band is self-releasing the album, but Stereogum (who premiered "Saudade" this morning) says that Science of Silence and Dunk! will handle the vinyl release with each entity releasing a different color variant of the vinyl. The band are getting and additional 300 pieces exclusive to them.
Handal added that while Reflectionless still sounds like Set and Setting, it is still wholly different from past releases.
"I tried to purposely be uninfluenced by new music and let this one go in whatever direction that felt right," he said. "[These are] some of our heaviest, prettiest, and most original songs to date."
Have a listen to the song and see a tracklist below. Call your local record store to see if they'll be carrying it. Get to know the artist behind the cover, Samantha Muljat, here. See Set and Setting this weekend when they play Destroyer Fest in St. Petersburg. More information on the festival is available here.
This article appears in Nov 10-17, 2016.