Empire Inward by STNNNG

City Pages
By Erik Thompson Tuesday, Feb 19 2013

The recording process for STNNNG's new album, Empire Inward, was an indie kid's rock 'n' roll fantasy camp. This past April, the veteran Minneapolis art-rock quintet headed to Steve Albini's Electrical Audio in Chicago for three days.

STNNNG singer Chris Besinger, sharing some relaxed Friday-night pints with guitarist Nathan Nelson at the cozy Tracks Bar in St. Paul. "What you're paying for is somebody who has got 30 years of experience working on all the records that you love, with this insane studio that there's no reason you should have access to."

Still, the band's work with Albini — the studio engineer credited with shaping Nirvana's In Utero, Pixies' Surfer Rosa, and other noise-harnessing classics — had more kinship than some arrangements. After STNNNG (pronounced "stunning") mastered the album at London's Abbey Road studios in November, they played the All Tomorrow's Parties Festival in Camber Sands, curated by Shellac, Albini's band.

Albini didn't tinker too much with the band's combustible post-punk sound on Empire Inward, and that's how they wanted it. "In theory, making a record that sounds like what you sound like in the practice space should be the easiest thing in the world," Besinger says reflectively. "But it turns out that's actually incredibly difficult. In a way, it's easier to record an album with a bunch of bells and whistles."

In the boisterous lead-off track, "Ring and Roar," Besinger headily proclaims, "We are men of logic...we are men of art...we are men of science." He says these words serve as both a statement of intent from the band and a reflection of who they are as people. But that modern acuity is contradicted with the tempestuous roil of "Brain-Dumb" that follows. Nelson says the fiery track is definitely a "crotch first" song.

"Some of our songs are 'mind first,' and some of them are 'crotch first,'" Nelson clarifies with a laugh. "We're at our best when we combine the mind and the crotch together." Besinger quickly joins in by joking, "The best ideas always start below the waist and then work their way up."

A consistent self-awareness continues throughout Empire Inward, refuting the stereotype that hard-rock bands are drunk idiots who can't play. Nelson quickly points out: "We're drunk idiots who know how to play our instruments."

STNNNG
Chris Besinger
Adam Burt
Ben Ivascu
Jesse Kwakenat
Nathan Nelson

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