Greys Warm Shadow

Back in April, Toronto punk band and Stereogum Band To Watch Greys released their second full-length, Outer Heaven. As it turns out, they have a second new album this year, and it’s out today by surprise.

Warm Shadow is a companion piece, a blearier and experimental sister project that has its roots in the writing and recording of Outer Heaven. Frontman Shehzaad Jiwani compares it to Kendrick Lamar’s Untitled Unmastered or to Radiohead’s Amnesiac, albums that couldn’t have existed without their immediate predecessor but are still their own thing.

In this case, the roots of Warm Shadow are literally in Outer Heaven. The spark for the project came as the group, inspired and led by bassist Colin Gillespie, experimented with tape loops of what they were recording for Outer Heaven. Warm Shadow was originally going to be a collection of tape drones, warped echoes of the loud rock songs on the preceding album. The casual exploration and collaboration was the end result of a transition that’s been taking place in the band, from Jiwani being the sole and/or primary songwriter, to him opening up the process and writing with his bandmates more.

Greys are touring constantly this year, but I managed to catch up with Jiwani when he passed through New York. We talked about the process of making Warm Shadow, where he sees Greys going next, and the Toronto scene they call home.

1. Minus Time
2. UberEats
3. I'd Hate To Be An Actress
4. Trish K
5. Fresh Hell
6. Colour Out Of Space
7. ProTech!
8. Light Pollution
9. Space Mountain
10. Outer Heaven