Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson’s current band, Envy of None, has announced plans to release its sophomore studio album, Stygian Wavz, on March 14. In conjunction with the announcement, the group has made the album’s title track, “Stygian Waves,” available via digital formats.
Videos by American Songwriter
In addition, a mind-bending animated music video for the song has premiered at the Kscope label’s official YouTube channel.
Stygian Wavz is an 11-track collection that also includes two other previously released songs—“Not Dead Yet” and “Under the Stars.”
The album was mostly recorded in Toronto and was self-produced.
A description of Stygian Wavz posted on Envy of None’s social media pages shares that the new album features the band exploring such genres as alt-pop, industrial rock, synthwave, and hard rock. The post also explains that the record finds the group “blending haunting melodies, moreish riffs, and richly layered electronic textures into a compelling and unique sound.”
More About “Stygian Waves” and Its Companion Video
“Stygian Waves” is a mostly instrumental track that features elements of prog-rock, dream-pop, psychedelia, and Indian music. The song’s dreamy quality is enhanced by lead singer Maiah Wynne’s ethereal vocalizations.
“This track is a favorite of all 4 [Envy of None members],” bassist/songwriter Andy Curran said in statement. “Despite the fact of the spartan lyrical content, this song features our sweet Maiah on lead vocals. Her harmonies and layers of vocals are literally symphonic! It’s hard to put a finger on what style or genre this one is…and we’re proud of that!”
The “Stygian Waves” video also hard to describe. The clip was animated and directed by Mariano Biotico, who also created a similarly surreal video for “Not Dead Yet.”
The visual features a variety of swirling, kaleidoscopic images, including galaxies and planets, forests, mushrooms, flowers, sea creatures, eyes, various mysterious and mystical-looking women, castles, clouds, and more.
Stygian Wavz Release Details
Stygian Wavz will be released in various formats and configurations, including on CD, as a standard black-vinyl or limited-edition colored-vinyl LP, on Blu-ray, and digitally.
A limited-edition box set also will be available that features a CD, Blu-ray, a green-and-black-marble vinyl LP, and four individual photo prints of Envy of None’s members. The box set also will come packaged with 12-page booklet featuring track-by-track notes and exclusive photos. The Blu-ray includes multiple high-res mixes of the album, and four promotional music videos.
Various colored-vinyl variants of Stygian Wavz will be sold at different outlets. You can pre-order the album now.
More About Envy of None
Envy of None’s self-titled debut album was released in 2022. The band followed that with an EP, That Was Then, in 2023.
“Not Dead Yet” and “Under the Stars,” the first two advance singles from Stygian Wavz, were released in October and December 2024, respectively. Both tracks were accompanied by music videos.
Envy of None features Lifeson on guitar, mandola, banjo, and programming; Curran on bass, guitar, synthesizers, backing vocals, and programming, Wynne on vocals and keyboards; and Alf Annibalini on guitar, keyboards, and programming.
Curran is a longtime friend of Lifeson who’s also a founding member of the veteran Canadian band Coney Hatch.
Stygian Wavz Track List:
- “Not Dead Yet”
- “The Story”
- “Under the Stars”
- “Thrill of the Chase”
- “Handle with Care”
- “That Was Then”
- “Raindrops”
- “New Trip”
- “Clouds”
- “The End”
- “Stygian Waves”
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.