A wonderful thing about booking bands at Roadburn is having the opportunity to invite bands back in subsequent years, watching their audience grow as their star ascends. We had the privilege of hosting Los Angeles’ Agriculture’s very first foray into Europe just a couple of short years ago, and already we’re inviting them back – this time to perform on the main stage. We knew that they’d likely be back at Roadburn again, such was the impact of their time at the festival, but we didn’t anticipate quite how swiftly their return would become absolutely necessary.
You see, we’ve had the pleasure of immersing ourselves in their new album, The Spiritual Sound, and upon first listen we knew that they had something quite spectacular on their hands. At the time of writing this, and indeed by the time this will be published the album will still be a few days away from being released, but by the time Roadburn rolls around we trust that you too will have had the opportunity to embrace The Spiritual Sound.
It’s a record that demands attention and rewards your commitment with thoughtful explorations of black metal landscapes that are pockmarked with sonic left turns and unexpected tangents. Over the course of the album’s ten tracks, Agriculture don’t shy away from self-examination, from prodding at the world around them and questioning their roles within it as they re-write genre parameters with their melodic, ecstatic sound. Repeated listens reveal more with every spin; we trust that you will find yourself returning time after time to revisit this album before April arrives and Agriculture take to the stage to perform it in full.
“We are honored and unbelievably excited to be playing Roadburn again this year. Not only is it one of our favorite audiences to play for in the world, it is also one of the most exciting places to be for us as listeners. After we play, we’ll be running around the festival ourselves trying to catch as many of the acts as possible.”
Something tells us this won’t be the last we see of Agriculture at Roadburn, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For now, let us embrace The Spiritual Sound of Agriculture and celebrate their return to the fold.
– Becky Laverty
Photo Credit: Olivia Crumm
