Versus detail first album in nine years, share "Mummified"

Indie rock vets Versus, fully out of hibernation, released the Ex Niho EP last month, and have now announced details of their first album in nine years — it’s titled Ex Voto and will be out August 16 via Ernest Jenning Record Co. “’Ex Nihilo,’ which means ‘out of nothing,’ addresses divinity, and creation,” explains frontman Richard Baluyut. “’Ex Voto,’ means ‘from a vow’ and comes from a Mexican devotional painting. It often depicts catastrophe, and God’s role in and out of catastrophe. But I imagined God being alien. Which might be true, in a Starman-sort of way… Ancient alien and all of that.” Richard also adds that a lot of the album’s songs “are about escape, maybe to another dimension or an alternate universe,” which is a feeling a lot of us can relate to currently. The first single is “Mummified,” which starts as a typically roaring Versus indie rock number but them blossoms into something much prettier and sparkling, almost Smiths-esque, with Richard and bassist Fontaine Toups trading off lead vocals and coming together for lovely harmonies. “It’s about time, and becoming eternal,” says Richard. You can stream that below.

Having recently played NYC with Ex Hex, Versus will celebrate Ex Voto at Brooklyn’s Baby’s All Right on July 12 with SAVAK and Big Bliss. Tickets for that show will be on sale soon. Versus only other upcoming date is opening for Luna’s sold-out Bewitched show at Bowery Ballroom in October.

In other news,Richard (and Ed) Baluyut’s pre-Versus band Flower also have an album on the way, and James Baluyut’s band +/- are working on new music, too.

Versus Ex Voto tracklist:
Gravity
Moon Palace
University
Mummified
Baby Green
Atmosphere
Nothing But U
Re-Animator