Glaciers by Chris Oliver & Zachary Biggs

"About six months ago, in the summer of 2020, Chris began sending me a large amount of instrumental music intended for our new collaborative album. I set about writing lyrics and melodies for about half the songs included here, and took what was initially supposed to be a short break. However, I ended up having brain surgery unexpectedly, and was unable to work on them for a few more months. When I recovered fully I resumed work and finished everything by the end of 2020.

A lot of the songs had to be digitally edited in order to form a linear song structure, having been culled from Chris' solo jam sessions / recordings. In several instances I sent Chris a rough vocal, then he sent a more polished effort, and I edited those further to include my own singing where needed.

On several songs, such as Lost Control and Time To Go, my intention lyrically was to write from a place that was less esoteric than our previous releases, and to be simpler and more inclusive to a wider variety of people. I found inspiration from people like Trent Reznor, Bernard Sumner, Martin Gore and even Ozzy Osbourne. I've always noticed that these artists write lyrics that deal with universal feelings of sadness, doubt, loss and self-consciousness without over intellectualizing those themes. It's my hope that I achieved that simplicity as well.

Blow It All Up and American Nightmare were written in response to the killing of George Floyd, police corruption, and the continuing fight for civil rights, especially concerning injustice within the minority population in America; they are our first forays into political subject matter, or social protest music

As usual, all songs were recorded long distance, with myself in Texas and Chris in Michigan. It is the fifteenth album we've recorded like this together." - Z. Biggs



"From April 20th till July 6th 2020.I was temporary laid off from work due to Covid-19. I gave myself the challenge of writing and recording a piece of music a day. The basic tracks you hear (drums, bass and rhythm guitar) were written and recorded during this time period. Twenty plus pieces were sent to Zach, telling him to do whatever he wanted with them. This is the first time one of our collaborative albums has included trade off lead vocals from Zach and myself, and it also features the most lead vocals I've recorded for one of our albums. All lyrics were written by Zach and all but one guitar solo are from Mr. Biggs. Listen loudly!" - C. Oliver

Chris' contributions are more varied than mine (Zach) so here they are individually

1. I've Been Floating- Drums, Bass, Guitar, Co-lead vocals, microphone white noise, synthesizer, outro guitar solo

2. As Life Begins- Drums, Bass, Guitar, Vocals, Synthesizer

3. Blow It All Up- Extreme Flanger Drums, Punk Rock Bass, Angry Guitar

4. American Nightmare- Drums, Psychedelic Guitar, Synthesizer, Vocals

5.The Longest Bath- Drums, Fuzzy Bass, Synthesizer

6. Lost Control- Drum machine, Weird tuning guitar, Synthesizer, Vocals

7. Shared Memories- Space Bubbles, Drums, Bass, Guitar, vocals, Synthesizer

8. Someday Soon- drums, bass, guitar, vocals, Synthesizer

9. Time To Go- Drums, Bass, Guitar, Harmony vocals, Synthesizer

10. Disconcerting Woes- Drums, Spooky Synthesizers, Guitar, Co-Lead vocals

11. Entertain You- Synthesizers, Harmony Vocals


Cover art by Toni Oswald