Atsuko Chiba – Retention
Montreal experimental rock outfit Atsuko Chiba announce their self-titled fourth album, out April 24 via Mothland, with lead single “Retention”. It’s their first since 2023’s Water, It Feels Like It’s Growing, and it marks a shift in approach.
The band:Karim Lakhdar (vocals, guitar, synths), Kevin McDonald (synths, guitar), Eric Schafhauser (guitar, synths), David Palumbo (bass, vocals), and Anthony Piazza (drums, percussion)—built this album through free-form improvisation at their home studio, Room 11. No plans, just playing and recording, generating grooves and moments that felt right. They put limitations on themselves, cutting out certain instruments from the session to force new pathways.
“Retention” unfolds slowly, built on an off-kilter shuffle, with layered synths and guitars drifting over melodic basslines and percussion. Vocals gradually emerge, becoming more melodic until they combine into a soulful choir for the coda. It’s a departure from the aggressive, distorted guitar sound they’ve relied on in the past. This time, they’re focusing on space, restraint, and dynamics instead of loud guitars.
The track tells a story about a boy in a village haunted by ghosts. He gathers fragments of memory and shapes them into effigies, burning them one by one to free the spirits. “With each burning figure, a thread is severed, a burden lifted, a soul allowed to rest”, Lakhdar explains. “Yet the question remains—when all the effigies have turned to ash, will the boy finally be free, or will he always carry the guilt of the past.”
The album draws inspiration from Mark Lanegan, Beak>, Talk Talk, Can, and Portishead, expanding their post-rock and krautrock foundations with elements of trip-hop, ambient, and chamber pop. It’s 32 minutes across six tracks, each one its own world but cohesive as a whole.
“Overall, Atsuko Chiba is an exercise in patience and restraint,” the band says. “The mood is melancholic, at times feeling optimistic, while other times feeling almost hopeless—there’s a sense of loss and disconnect, but also a glimmer of hope. It is the most vulnerable and stripped down music we have ever made.”
They recorded everything themselves, with each member sharing production and engineering duties. Matthew Cerantola handled the mix, Harris Newman the mastering.
Tracklist:
- Retention
- Pretense
- Future Ways
- Tar Sands
- Torn
- Locked and Array
