After eight years of silence, Bosse-de-Nage return with Hidden Fires Burn Hottest, their first full length since Further Still. Where that record was defined by discipline and restraint, the band's new chapter turns outward, embracing strangeness, and a deliberate rejection of self-imposed limits.
Longtime collaborators with The Flenser, Bosse-de-Nage approach Hidden Fires Burn Hottest as both a continuation and a rupture. Tracked by Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Oathbreaker) at Atomic Garden East and mixed and mastered by Richard Chowenhill of Agriculture, the album was years in the making, with some material dating back to 2018. For the first time, lyricist Bryan Manning wrote all lyrics in advance, creating excess rather than scarcity. It is a shift that fundamentally altered the band’s creative process and left room for exploration instead of urgency.
The first single, No Such Place, is suspended between the mental and the physical. The band describes it as “…one of the oldest tracks from this song cycle and has come to represent the heart of 'Hidden Fires Burn Hottest.' It is perhaps the closest realization of the original vision we had for this album. All of the restrictions we placed on ourselves for Further Still have been shed like old skin and a new form has emerged.”
The first example from Hidden Fires Burn Hottest unveils a record that is less concerned with boundaries and more invested in discovery. Bosse-de-Nage reemerge transformed, carrying the weight of their past while moving unencumbered into something wider and possibly darker.
Photo by Bobby Cochran
ZR