LOS ANGELES, CA (WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 4, 2024) – Independent Project Records (IPR) and Greg Lisher (Camper Van Beethoven/Monks of Doom) (CVB/MOD) announced today that they will release a 12-track instrumental electronic album, Underwater Detection Method, on October 25. The first single from the album will be “Finding the Future,” which is out today on all DSPs. The album is available for preorder here.

Underwater Detection Method is a thing of firsts. While Greg Lisher is a familiar face to most fans of made-in-California alternative rock (thanks to his work with Camper Van Beethoven and Monks of Doom), Underwater Detection Method sees Greg moving in a totally new direction. While not his first solo record, CVB and MOD fans likely will be surprised by the music on his new album. It has all the feeling of discovering a new artist for the first time.

“While many fans of Camper Van Beethoven and Monks of Doom know me strictly as a guitar player in an ‘alternative’ band, I purposely stepped outside my comfort zone making Underwater Detection Method,” said Greg Lisher. “I wanted to explore a completely different aspect of music that I love. This album might surprise a few people.”

After completing the guitar-based solo album Songs from the Imperial Garden in 2012 (a collection of instrumentals brimming with acoustic intimacy that he would finally release in 2020), Lisher thought it was time for something different. Underwater Detection Method sees Greg for the first time writing songs using keyboards and exploring a new world of synthesized sounds. Always a lover of keyboards and synths, and of the more experimental excursions of favorite artists such as Brian Eno, Greg took the plunge and made the decision to finally release a solo album that was anything but guitar-centric.

The resulting 12-songs make for an instrumental record shaded with elements of art rock, ambient, dub and prog conjuring an inspired fusion that manages to split the difference between the melodic and the experimental. Some tracks seem born to accompany the emotional climax of an unforgettable movie, while others wouldn’t feel out of place in a volume of the KPM 1000 series. With this new self-produced album Greg approached songwriting with an open-minded disposition; he’d start songs by experimenting with sound collage which would take him to places he did not expect to go. “It’s like fishing,” he says, “I have no idea what I’m going to catch.” The album’s title reflects that analogy and reveals a most vibrant, creative eagerness. Lisher might have joined Camper Van Beethoven some 39 years ago, but Underwater Detection Method shows that you never know when you’ll discover new things about yourself or the music you make and love.

Now coming on two variations of vinyl (black and clear), a “wallet” edition CD as well as a numbered Special Edition CD packaged in Independent Project Records’ signature oversized CD pocket folder, and digital formats, Underwater Detection Method features a 5-color custom design with metallic ink for all vinyl and CD packaging, along with pinhole-perforated photographic inserts.

Track Listing:

1.   All Things Japanese
2.   The Illusion of Depth
3.   Travels Through Liguria
4.   Finding the Future
5.   Patterns
6.   Snowblind
7.   Softly Pushing Through the Crowds
8.   Tunneling
9.   Late Afternoon Progression
10. Zen and the Art of Long Distance Driving
11. Caterpillar to Butterfly
12. Planets Unknown

ABOUT INDEPENDENT PROJECT RECORDS

Founded in 1980 by musician and artist Bruce Licher, Independent Project Records and its sister entity Independent Project Press are known for their instantly recognizable hand-printed record covers for bands including Camper Van Beethoven, For Against, Polvo, R.E.M., Savage Republic, Silversun Pickups, Stereolab and more. Aside from creating much of the artwork on his vintage two-ton hand-fed letterpress, Licher was nominated for a Grammy Award for his design work on the IPR released debut album from For Against. In 2020, the label was relaunched by both Licher and Jeffrey Clark with new and archival releases and is distributed by MRI/The Orchard & via Proper Music Group outside the USA & Canada. IPR is based in Bishop, California, at the base of the Eastern Sierra Mountains.