Patrick Shiroishi (The Armed, Fuubutsushi) announces new album, Forgetting Is Violent

Both a quiet confrontation and a moving memorial, the new song, like the album, explores how systemic oppression persists across time, and how silence, erasure, and the ignoring of painful histories around injustices allow them to perpetuate today.

Forgetting is Violent meditates on racism and colonialism from history to the present day. “Stemming back to my ancestors, and the stolen land that we live on—there’s just so much of this racism that is so alive and well, and so apparent, and continues to be apparent in our country and around the world,” Shiroishi says. “Something that cannot be forgotten.”

“That act of sharing and bringing it up, even though it’s difficult,” Shiroishi adds, “it makes us feel like we’re not alone. And I think that’s important, especially in a time where it’s just so fucking grim, that we can support each other and be together, that there is hope in the future….”

Forgetting Is Violent also marks a sea change: it’s Shiroishi’s first album to feature guests. Across the work, he’s joined by a supporting cast that reads like a who’s who of heavy music: Aaron Turner (SUMAC, ISIS), Gemma Thompson (Savages), Faith Coloccia (Mamiffer), otay::onii (Elizabeth Colour Wheel), and Mat Ball (BIG|BRAVE). “I think it stems from my love for collaboration,” he says. “I’ve been a part of a lot of ensembles, a lot of different free improvised stuff. And a lot of that playing is where I gain new insight into what I can develop further in my solo practice.”

Tracklist:

1. To protect our family names (feat. Aaron Turner)
2. Mountains that take wing (feat. Gemma Thompson, Aaron Turner)
3. ...what does anyone want but to feel a little more free? (feat. Aaron Turner, Faith Coloccia)
4. There is no moment in my life in which this is not happening (feat. otay::onii)
5. One last walk with the wind of my past
6. Prayer for a trembling body
7. To become another being there has to be some kind of death
8. Trying to get to heaven before they close the door (feat. Mat Ball)