AVAILABLE DIGITALLY TODAY ON INVADA RECORDS, VINYL FORTHCOMING
TAKIAYA REED AND SYLVIE NEHILL GUIDE US THROUGH THE ALBUM TRACK BY
TRACK
Gas Lit is the new and third album by the multidimensional duo Divide and Dissolve, out on digital format today through Invada Records with physical formats to follow. Pre-orders are now available via the label here and
the band here.
The album is preceded by three dynamic singles and videos, “We Are Really Worried About You”,
“Denial” (which made Quietus’ Top 4 single of 2020) and finally “Prove It.”
The duo consisting of members Takiaya Reed (saxophone, guitar, live effects/ (Black & Tsalagi [Cherokee]) and Sylvie Nehill (drums, live effects/ (Māori) talk us through the album track by track.
Oblique – It is a privilege to work through trauma and feel supported in this work. Oblique is an acknowledgement that everyone experiences trauma. Everyone has different experiences with the narrative of trauma and their ancestors’ trauma. The end of the colonial project and white supremacy will forge a pathway to healing from trauma and intergenerational trauma.
Prove It – Prove It calls into question the need to prove you experienced something. If someone wasn’t there to witness it, it still happened and may have caused harm. Colonial power structures, power dynamics, and societal expectations rely on Black, Indigenous, and people of colour being Gas Lit and denying our experiences, because the predominant white supremacist narrative demands us to. When a tree falls in the forest, it has fallen. Prove It is about the acceptance of experiences of pain without expectation.
Did You Have Something To Do With It –
“This is our time
What is certain, is life
Growing out of itself greater than the moment before
Within us, around us, in spite of us.
The thing that brought us up from the cold
and will press us back like flowers into the mold.
We are tethered to a circuit that excludes nothing
a song the dead can hear.
Something resilient forming all
Something that makes time small.
So old, that language can’t dispose of it” – Minori Sanchiz-Fung
Denial – The act of denial is one of the most powerful mechanisms of the colonial project. Black, Indigenous, and people of colour are continuously being presented with elements of denial that contribute to the ongoing genocide and disposession of our people, land, water, and spirit. Our song is seeking to exert an even greater force by calling into question the weaponisation of memory, forgetting or denying the existence of an experience or action. The disproportionate harm enacted in the invisibilization of genocide, dispossession of land and people, and relentlessness of systemic power structures is not only unacceptable, but is not conducive to life for people the Earth and all beings. As Indigenous people we will continue to demand our land back which was stolen and clean water. We will continue to pay respects to our ancestors. We push back on Denial with a greater force to demand change that is conducive to life.
Far From Ideal – The fervent disregard for humanity is far from ideal. In order to ensure an embodied Black and Indigenous future, systemic change must occur. Time and distance are non-linear colonial constructs that need to be transcended in order to defy the harmful hegemonic discourse.
It’s Really Complicated – Sometimes it isn’t complicated. White supremacy and colonisation create processes that are unnecessarily complex and relentless in their participation in the settler colonial, capitalist, genocidal, death cult.
Mental Gymnastics – Navigating white supremacy, colonisation, capitalism, and hate is exhausting. The ongoing pathways of resistance that our ancestors, Black, Indigenous, and people of colour continue to carve out require mental agility and coordination. Despite this our ancestors have survived, are surviving, and continue to be here even with challenges that threaten our survival and collective wellbeing.
We Are Really Worried About You – This song seeks to undermine and destroy the white supremacist colonial framework. This is a call to transformation and freedom. We are weaving together our fight for Indigenous Sovereignty, Black and Indigenous Liberation, Water, Earth, and Indigenous land given back. Decolonise now.
While the album is released digitally today, Divide and Dissolve will soon announce the release date for the special vinyl package. Ruban Nielson (Unknown Mortal Orchestra) who produced the record and artwork says of the design, “I was looking through a huge box of old film photos at my house looking for some images that might work as the cover. My wife Jen’s picture of a land sculpture she made as a teenager in Tolaga Bay was there and it felt perfect. Like a pyre. Her puppy from back then is in the picture to the right too. I miss that Dog.”
Red vinyl retail edition pressed on 180g heavyweight vinyl, comes with digital download card Invada mail order web-store exclusive variant pressed on clear / green marble effect vinyl, comes with digital download card. Quantity of 200.
Front cover image- Jenny Nielson
Back cover logo – Arthur Katrina
D//D logo – Susan Kim Design – Chris Reeder
