Japan’s Envy is far from a household name, but that’s certainly not from reaching the right audiences. Envy has always been—and likely always will be—a band’s band. It’s the type of act that gets namechecked by other, more popular bands and, as it did with Mogwai, occasionally collaborates with them as well. Envy’s mix of hardcore and post-rock has lead to it being one of the best acts in an often maligned genre, by mixing abstraction and aggression until its something that’s decidedly its own.
On July 10 Temporary Residence Limited will release Atheist’s Cornea, the band’s first record in five years. The A.V. Club is premiering “Footsteps In The Distance,” a track that shows Envy at its most melodic, where singer Tetsuya Fukagawa forgoes screaming and lets his plainspoken words match the song’s delicate movements. This isn’t to say the song lacks Envy’s heavier tendencies, but it shows just how versatile the band can be, never letting itself stagnate even after 20 years together.
Pre-orders for Atheist’s Cornea are available now through Temporary Residence Limited.