The Contortionist, ‘Flourish’ — Song Premiere

The Contortionist's Good Fight debut, 'Exoplanet,' isn't out until Aug. 31, but the Indianapolis band is debuting the song 'Flourish' right here on Noisecreep today. 'Exoplanet' was produced by Unearth guitarist Ken Susi, so you know before even cranking this tune that it's going to have some grit and girth. If you've not yet seen the band in a live setting, relax, you'll get your chance as there are plans for more fall touring in the works.

As for 'Flourish,' it's packed with noodly riffs, some cool and unexpected melodic vocal parts midway through and then the song slows down, effectively demonstrating the band's use of dynamics. It's like neo-prog, without all the needless showing off.

Listen to 'Flourish'

"'Flourish is one of our favorite songs to play live," guitarist Robby Baca told Noisecreep. "The noodly riffs certainly keep us on our feet, but the song isn't difficult to play live by any means. Our songwriting has become what it is through a lot of experimenting with dynamics, key modulation and a lot of other cool things you can do with music. We definitely have some neo-prog elements like album concepts, but I wouldn't consider us 'neo-prog.'"

Singer Jonathan Carpenter told Noiscreep that 'Flourish' is "a chronological description of the implied birth of our planet, and then the explosion of multi-cellular life that has allowed Earth to have intelligent life, relatively speaking." Baca also contended that it is the song "that we went all out on. We didn't hold anything back, and that's why there's so much going on."

Even though 'Exoplanet' is slated to drop in two weeks, the Contortionist have already started the writing process for the next album. While they move forward, we will remain happily in the present, as we proudly premiere 'Flourish' today.