2014 saw the release of The Lees Of Memory‘s debut Sisyphis Says. Not only was it one my favorite albums of the year, but already one of my favorite albums of all time. The lush, shoegazing instrumentation of “Deliquesce” and “(I Want You To) Let It Flow” along with the scorching, reverb drenched experimental rock of “Little Fallen Star” and “Not A Second More” among others, the album was a whirlwind of beauty and heartache.
Not long after the release, word got around that John Davis, (Superdrag, Epic Ditch), Brandon Fisher (Superdrag) 
and Nick Slack (The Pink Spiders, Epic Ditch) weren’t finished and Sisyphus Says wasn’t another one-off side project, but a legitimate, living and breathing band, and a new album was already in the early stages of production. Producer, collaborator and long time friend to Davis, Nick Raskulinecz (Rush, Ghost, Foo Fighters) was once again brought on board as producer. Sadly with being one of the most sought after producers in the music industry, working with Raskulinecz meant working in quick loaded mini sessions throughout the year based around his schedule. This prolonged the completion of the record.
To hold us over they subsequently released two double A sided singles throughout the year. Soft Places + Within A Dream II (SideOneDummy Records) and Aint No Changing Baby’s Mind ( Velocity Of Sound). Those four songs were just as different from each other as they were from anything on their previous full-length debut, making us wonder what exactly the upcoming follow-up was going to sound like.As production slowly wraps up, the band has decided to let us participate in getting the album from their minds, and into our ears!
Self releasing the 2nd LP, now being titled Unnecessary Evil, can bea slower process than releasing an album through a recording label, but it also enables the band to take full creative control in packaging, marketing and sale. Instead of going the way of many artist these days and using a GoFundMe account, they decided to work with PledgeMusic and offer many exciting incentives for pre-ordering the album.
Unnecessary Evil will be available on CD, cassette, digital download and of course vinly. Along with your pre-order, you can take advantage exclusives such as limited edition random colored variant, and highly collectible test pressings. But what makes PledgeMusic truly special, is the one of a kind incentives such as the one and only painting Bird Of Prey that is being used as the album cover, the hand-made tracking chart used in the studio during the recording, one of the J Mascis signature guitars used in the making of the album, and even the chance to have John Davis record ANY song of your choice at his 4-track home studio!
In addition to those other worldly incentives, each pledge/pre-order grants you access to exclusive photos, video, 
demos, alternate takes, as well as a free digital download of Unnecessary Evil the very second it has finished being mixed and mastered.
As the writing of this article, a few rough mixes have already been posted to pledge members, and despite wanting to hold off from hearing spoilers, I succumbed to the temptation and gave them a quick listen. What I heard was some of the most interestingly beautiful tracks I’ve ever heard come the band AND their previous projects, even in the rough-mixed state in which they were presented! Unnecessary Evil is the most anticipated release of 2016, and being taken along with the last few steps of the release, has made it all the more special to me. I’ve been a fan of Davis for more than half of my life and still to this day, he has yet to disappoint.
Don’t miss out on any of these one-of-a-kind incentives in this pre-order. Head to http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/theleesofmemory and get this started today.
