Listening to music in the age of streaming is akin to having a string of one-night stands. Streaming platforms are driven by the single experience, a quick-hit dopamine rush that holds attention for a few scant moments before we carry on elsewhere with a few impulsive clicks. The album and all its sense of companionship is left for the passion of lovers, those seeking a thrill deeper than what a three-minute fling can offer, a connective cleanse not even a swingers’ playlist can provide. The album is the outlier in our ravenous and cutthroat digital consumption culture, but it also, by its very nature, provides a more lasting relationship.
We’ve been having one-off affairs with ACTORS for the past several months now. The Vancouver band — often assigned the label of post-punk despite a sound that scans far wider across various shades of darker and more shadowy pop — have crafted a remarkable roll-out of captivating singles: Among them “Love U More”; “Strangers”; and “Like Suicide”. Today (October 1), those tracks find a commonality and cohesion through ACTORS’ sophomore album Acts of Worship, via Artoffact Records, and a companion to take with you through the night and loom overhead and under foot deep into morning ever after.
With Acts of Worship, the affair has turned into a relationship.
From the shattered glass goth-pop of “Obsession” to the mechanical, Numan-esque crunch of “Cold Eyes,” the LP’s last singular offering before full impact arrival, ACTORS’ second act is almost spiritual in nature. It demands more from the listener at a time when the listener is one who makes the demands, and it would feel confrontational if it wasn’t so embracing (see the Bowie-ish new wave allure of “Killing Time (Is Over),” and cinematic closer “Once More With Feeling.”)
Acts of Worship is often dramatic on its serpentine surface, but the atmospheric core is centered purely on our own human emotions, and as an extension, the resulting connectivity we have with others.
“It’s about embracing who you are and having the confidence to do what you feel and not be afraid,” says ACTORS’ Jason Corbett, who produced the album at his Jacknife Sound studio in Vancouver. “I made the first ACTORS album without caring about who would hear it. I think people can feel honesty in music whether they realize it or not. The new album is exactly where I wanted to go with ACTORS. It expands on the last album lyrically and sonically. It’s the next step of our journey.”
Go deeper with ACTORS below, and take it with you for the extended play it deserves.
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