This Friday, Philly-by-way-of-Cleveland musician Matt Scheurmann will be self-releasing his third full-length under the moniker Lowercase Roses titled Ordinary Terror. His first album of original material since 2020’s Titanic Planet, Scheurmann has created a collection of songs that are overflowing in panicked emotions that feel as though they’ve been considered ad nauseam through nights where sleep is hard to come by after being constantly pulverized by the horrorshow that our world has become.
“At the end of a paragraph in a book I was reading were the words ‘ordinary terror,’” he shares, diving into the album’s themes. “I remember my gaze staying fixated on them as, in that moment, they seemed to encapsulate so much of what I’d been channeling, consciously or unconsciously, into this album. Whether it be the effects of capitalism, environmental devastation, a life-altering pandemic, generalized anxiety and depression, the pervasive violence of the American delusion, the loud madness of the internet, or aging with grief, these two words juxtaposed together seemed to fittingly describe life as I saw it.”
Scheurmann recorded and played all of the instruments on the album, with additional vocals on the exuberant pop of “Greenlight in the Echo Chamber” coming from Cayetana and Gladie singer Augusta Koch and Matt Schimelfenig (the latter also mixed Ordinary Terror). The album was mastered by Heather Jones, who’s had a hand in a couple records from Philly-based projects this year such as Sadurn’s Radiator and S by They Are Gutting a Body of Water.
After years of creating music on his own, Ordinary Terror feels like a culmination of his powers as a songwriter and arranger. Songs like the album’s gorgeous standout and ecological funeral march for our dying planet “California Everywhere” effortlessly combine elements of synth-pop, lo-fi indie rock, and slowcore, all anchored by Scheurmann’s dispatch-from-the-clouds tenor.
Ordinary Terror will officially be released on streaming services tomorrow, but we have the whole thing available to listen to a day early below. Lowercase Roses will be playing with Golden Apples (who Scheuermann also plays in), Greg Mendez, and The Mops at Kung Fu Necktie in Philly on January 8—find more details here.
