In Tense: Princeton Announces Second Album

 

 


It’s rare that we have a strong, immediate reaction to an album title (was Talk That Talk really the best you could do, Rihanna?). But upon learning that Los Angeles band Princeton would be naming its sophomore album Remembrance of Things to Come, we must admit: we were duly impressed.  It’s perfect for the band, helmed by identical twins Jesse and Matt Kivel: a familiar, highbrow reference that suddenly takes a turn into undiscovered territory and ends up, finally, in a paradox. Their songwriting, too, is brainy, and more experimental on the upcoming record than ever before: it hinges on looping patterns that grow ever more complex, drawing on the listener’s anticipation and then subverting it.

And speaking of anticipation—to drum up interest in the album, the band (with T.S. Pfeffer and Robert McHugh of Pier Pictures) has just created a short film to drum up anticipation for the album, which we’re very happy to premiere here. It’s a compilation of nostalgia-stirring archival footage of places both beautiful and a little disconcerting (a deserted beach at dusk, a waterfall flowing upward), accompanied by the lovely “Phase,” which marks the halfway point on the new album. February 21 can’t come fast enough.

PRINCETON’S REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS TO COME IS OUT FEBRUARY 21. FOR MORE ON THE BAND, VISIT ITS WEBSITE.