Uniform’s Michael Berdan Breaks Down New Album American Standard Track by Track: Exclusive

The post Uniform’s Michael Berdan Breaks Down New Album American Standard Track by Track: Exclusive appeared first on Consequence .

Track by Track is our recurring feature series in which artists guide readers through each song on a release. Today, Uniform singer Michael Berdan takes us under the hood of the band’s new album, American Standard.

With the imminent release of American Standard , I’d like to take some time and walk you through each individual track.

We started putting this record together during a period of collective upheaval in the Fall of 2022. On the heels of some health issues and extremely limited touring, morale in the band was at an all-time low. Instead of calling it a day, we decided to channel all of our sadness and distress into something new.

Our longtime drummer Mike Sharp lives several states away and has significant family responsibilities, so Michael Blume has largely taken over drum duties for live shows in the “post-COVID” era. Rather than pick between two incredible percussionists, we utilized both of them. With the addition of Brad Truax on bass, the American Standard lineup of Uniform took shape.

Although the bulk of the music was recorded in early 2023, we spent a solid year editing these tracks so that they would complement a narrative flow. The lyrics focus on my lifelong battle with an eating disorder, and it took a significant amount of time and attention in order to accurately marry the words to the music. The idea was to reflect the full-spectrum of a very real mental illness in a cohesive piece of art, and that’s not the kind of thing that comes together casually.

In order to maintain a certain level of quality, some of my favorite horror writers helped to craft these lyrics. Maggie Siebert’s résumé boasts some of the most harrowing short stories regarding body dysmorphia in recent memory, while B.R. Yeager’s work has served as a wrecking ball of crystalized isolation and self hatred swung towards the very heart of contemporary literature. This record would not exist without their invaluable talents and insights, and I will stand in their debt until the moment I draw my final breath.

As for the title, American Standard is a brand of toilet. You can do the math on that one.

Editor’s Note: Stream the new Uniform album American Standard , read Michael Berdan’s track-by-track breakdown, and see the band’s full list of tour dates below. Pre-order the LP via Sacred Bones Records , and pick up tickets to their upcoming shows at this location .

“American Standard”:

Time will judge whether or not it was a good idea to start an album with a song that clocks in at over 20 minutes. It’s not the most pragmatic idea that we’ve ever had when it comes to audience engagement, but we didn’t feel like we had much of a choice in the matter. There are only four songs on American Standard , and this one sets up the entire record.

The title track is broken up into three distinct sections. The first couple of minutes is just me and my voice, locked in a circular state of denial and frustration. My cries boomerang on themselves, returning as hateful affirmations of my worst fears. By the time the rest of the band crashes in, the disease has consumed all reason.

The second section is written from the point of view of my eating disorder. Slight sonic modulations appear within a ceaseless repetition, symbolizing countless relapses. The disease thinks of me as an insect. The disease tells me that I will never be good enough. The disease tells me that I am unworthy of love. The disease tightens its grip on my mind and body until I break.

It ends in a state of horrible lucidity. The music becomes euphoric as I step back and take stock of my life. Noting the physical and psychic effects of my disease, I look back and try to make sense of how it all started. I come to find these thoughts and behaviors entwined with my earliest childhood memories. I search for a cure to a malignancy at the core of my very being, and I find none. My disease has always been there. It always will be.

“This Is Not a Prayer”:

For a band that started out as a guitar and synth duo, we really like organic instruments. Everything that happens in this song is in service to the drums. Sharp and Blume tattoo a rhythm across “This Is Not a Prayer” that is equal parts Sepultura and Public Image Ltd., while Ben [Greenberg’s] guitar dances along the toms and Brad’s bass punctuates the kicks.

Thematically, this song is about a delusion that causes me to feel best about my appearance when people tell me that I look unhealthy. In my mind, the concerns of others serve as positive affirmations. I stand just shy of 6-feet tall, and there have been times where I’ve weighed less than 130lbs. If you’ve been where I’ve been, you know how arbitrary those numbers on the scale feel because what you see in the mirror is a terrible distortion of reality. You only know that you are on the right track when someone tells you that they are worried. It’s really fucked.

“Clemency”:

This is probably the most “traditional” Uniform song on American Standard . The first section harkens to a brand of industrial death metal straight out of the Godflesh songbook, and working within that familiar territory is a breath of fresh air on an album that stretches far beyond our comfort zone. It doesn’t last for very long, as we soon transition into the off-kilter starts and stops that make up the meat of the track.

Chronic isolation and guilt are at the heart of the lyrical content here. I have a long history of alienating friends and loved ones, and although this usually isn’t conscious behavior I am sometimes well aware of what I’m doing. People scare me, so I push them away. I feel so awful and so evil and so unworthy that the times I’m most comfortable are when I’m alone. It’s a weird paradox, because I doubt that I’m capable of taking care of myself for very long.

This leads to the final track…

“Permanent Embrace”:

For us, sequencing a record is always a delicate business. We want to create a sense of drama and urgency while preserving a narrative flow, and sometimes what might make the most sense to an audience doesn’t align with our goals. If we were smart, we would have made “Permanent Embrace” the first track on the album.

Although Ben initially wrote this one in some warped time signature that took forever for the rest of us to get the hang of, it’s easily the most melodic and concise song on American Standard . Sharp and Blume really shine as Ben and Brad plod away on a hideous noise rock riff, creating a false sense of familiarity before everything collapses and shifts into symphonic black metal territory.

The reason this song is last is because the A-side of the record (the title track) is supposed to be about how bulimia has impacted me, while the B-side (everything else) is about how my disease has impacted other people. On “This Is Not A Prayer,” people are concerned and trying to help me. I’ve pushed just about everyone away by the time “Clemency” comes around. Once we finally get to “Permanent Embrace,” I have turned a loved one into an emotional hostage who sticks around out of fear that I might hurt myself. This has less to do with love than it does with codependent fear on both of our parts.

Uniform 2024 Tour Dates:
08/30 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom (Record Release Show) !
09/03 – Landers, CA @ Giant Rock
09/04 – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon #
09/05 – San Francisco, CA @ Thee Parkside #
09/06 – Eugene, OR @ John Henry’s #
09/07 – Seattle, WA @ Black Lodge #
09/08 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios #
09/09 – Vancouver, BC @ The Pearl #
09/10 – Tacoma, WA @ Elks Temple #
10/01 – Manchester, UK @ The White Hotel %
10/02 – Newcastle, UK @ The Lubber Fiend %
10/03 – London, UK @ Rich Mix %
10/04 – Brussels, BE @ Botanique %
10/05 – Haarlem, NL @ Patronaat %
10/06 – Utrecht, NL @ De Helling %
10/08 – Hamburg, DE @ Hefenklang %
10/09 – Berlin, DE @ Zukunft %
10/10 – Warsaw, PL @ Hybrydy $
10/11 – Poznam, PL @ 2Progi $
10/12 – Prague, CZ @ Underdogs %
10/13 – Wien, AT @ Chelsea %
10/15 – Zagreb, HR @ Mocvara %
10/16 – Manchester, UK @ TPO ^
10/17 – Milano, IT @ ARCI Bellezza ^
10/18 – Fribourg, CH @ Cafe XXe %
10/19 – Paris, FR @ La Java %
12/03 – Washington, DC @ DC9 ~
12/04 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s ~
12/05 – Boston, MA @ The Armory ~
12/06 – Montréal, QC @ Cabaret Foufounes ~
12/07 – Toronto, ON @ Monarch Tavern ~
12/08 – Detroit, MI @ Small’s ~
12/10 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle ~
12/11 – Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups ~
12/13 – Richmond, VA @ The Warehouse ~
12/14 – Bethlehem, PA @ National Sokols ~

% = w/ Bad Breeding
$ = w/ Bad Breeding and A Place To Bury Strangers
^ = w/ Bad Breeding and The Body & Dis Fig
! = w/ Poison Ruin and LEYA
# = w/ World Peace
~ = w/ Pharmakon and True Body

Uniform’s Michael Berdan Breaks Down New Album American Standard Track by Track: Exclusive
Michael Berdan