May You Be Held

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May You Be Held
Studio album by
ReleasedOctober 2, 2020 (2020-10-02)
Recorded2017–2019[1]
Studio
  • The Unknown (Anacortes, Washington)
  • HoLC (Vashon, Washington)
  • Robert Lang (Shoreline, Washington)
GenrePost-metal
Length59:44
LabelThrill Jockey
ProducerMatt Bayles
Sumac chronology
Even for Just the Briefest Moment Keep Charging This "Expiation" Plug in to Making It Slightly Better
(2019)
May You Be Held
(2020)

May You Be Held is the fourth studio album by Canadian-American metal band Sumac. The album was released on October 2, 2020 through Thrill Jockey,[2] pushed back from its original release date of September 18.[1] To promote the album, Sumac released the track "The Iron Chair" for online streaming in July 2020.[3] Sumac asked Thrill Jockey to refrain from posting the album to the music streaming platform Spotify due to what the band referred to as CEO Daniel Ek's "pretty repugnant statements" made earlier in 2020 about artists not performing well on the site.[4]

May You Be Held was recorded over three years (2017–2019) and recorded at three different recordings studios, primarily in Washington state.[1] Kurt Ballou (Converge) who produced Sumac's What One Becomes (2016) and Love in Shadow (2018) returned to mix the album, while it was recorded by Matt Bayles (Isis, Botch).[1]

Track listing[edit]

May You Be Held track listing
No.TitleLength
1."A Prayer for Your Path"5:38
2."May You Be Held"19:52
3."The Iron Chair"8:16
4."Consumed"16:58
5."Laughter & Silence"9:00
Total length:59:44

Personnel[edit]

Sumac

Additional musicians

Production

  • Kurt Ballou – mixing, additional recording
  • Matt Bayles – recording
  • Matt Colton – mastering
  • Aaron Turner – additional recording
  • Nicholas Wilbur – assistant engineering

Artwork

  • Aaron Turner – artwork, design

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Slingerland, Calum (July 9, 2020). "Sumac Ready New Album 'May You Be Held'". Exclaim!. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  2. ^ Hughes, Josiah (July 29, 2020). "Sumac Share 'The Iron Chair' from 'May You Be Held'". Exclaim!. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  3. ^ Breihan, Tom (July 29, 2020). "Sumac – 'The Iron Chair'". Stereogum. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  4. ^ Rosenburg, Axl (October 5, 2020). "This Is Why You Won't Find the New Sumac Album on Spotify". MetalSucks. Retrieved October 5, 2020.