More exciting news for 2025! A new release by The Illness. There is a single out today called ‘Speedway Star’, David Pajo guests on vocals, and this fronts the announcement of an album due in February. The album is titled ‘Macrodosed’. Read some blurb then give ‘Speedway Star’ a listen. Or, alternatively, skip the reading and scroll straight to the music! You won’t be disappointed.
‘Macrodosed’ never rests on its laurels, as it shifts between modes and demands the listener’s attention, but is warm and inviting from start to finish. Synthpop banger Glitter Witches feints deftly to give the impression of being an early outlier in the running order, but by the track’s peak, everything makes perfect sense. Boldly calling at many stylistic stops along the way — hear the ominous vocoder-Morricone menace of Entropolis segue to the lush ’60s Brian Wilson/Jimmy Webb-isms of Ghost of Haxby, for example — the album culminates with the instrumental Macrodoser (as hinted at throughout the record), in which it’s easy to imagine Brian Eno and NEU! getting together to produce an Allman Brothers workout. A ‘Free Bird’ for introverts if you will.
Following two well-received previous EPs that saw the band working with Steve West & Bob Nastanovich (Silver Jews/Pavement) and Liverpool based multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Laura J Martin, ‘Macrodosed’ shows the developing arc of The Illness’ range of inspiration. A colourful introduction to a band with a dizzying scale of ambition tempered by an intimacy that can only come from the joyous embrace of collaboration. A band in sync with itself and its sense of kaleidoscopic purpose.
DeClunk 