Pleasure Systems • Visiting the Well

OCT071 | March 26th, 2021
Pre-order: a copy of the 12” vinyl • cassette tape

Visiting the Well is the new album from Pleasure Systems, the solo project of Philadelphia-based musician Clarke Sondermann (of The Washboard Abs, Mega Bog, Likes, Ben Varian). Written and recorded in creative isolation throughout the first year following the death of a partner, Visiting the Well is a stark and bracingly honest account of a consuming grief.

Across 12 songs (assembled from a collection of 35 demos written in fluid and immediate succession), Visiting the Well explores a wide variety of tones and styles, ranging from devotional folk to off kilter synth pop, but remains grounded in Sondermann’s intricate guitar work, lush arpeggiations, and stark lyricism. The double entendre of the album’s title - the well being not only a figurative well of emotion one visits, but also the world of the un-sick that feels unfamiliar after emerging from the world of a partner’s illness - is also reflected in the album’s lyrical content. Songs are addressed directly both to a person and to an absence, memories bleed into the present and become distorted. 

Although written privately, the final renditions are elevated by contributions from Matthew Anderegg (Infinity Dance Complex, Mothers, Body Meat), Curt Oren, and Paul Frunzi (Ever Ending Kicks, Hungry Cloud Darkening, Mount Eerie). The result is a work that serves not only as a candid account of loss, but also a heartfelt tribute to a shared love.

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