The wait is finally over. Riverside, CA’s The New Division have unleashed their beast of an LP, Gemini, this week. Leave all of your preconceived notions of what you think this album will sound like at the door; this being the band’s third LP, the follow-up to last year’s Together We Shine, Gemini takes us on a journey of a different dimension displaying frontman John Glenn Kunkel’s abilities to push harder, taking this record above and beyond previous material.
With early 2000’s blissful progressive trance vibes (“Introspective”) to the always-welcomed sound of dark 80’s revival (“Alive,” “Murder Shock”) Gemini has proven to be The New Division’s best work yet, surprising us with every turn. We were happy to get a little ‘introspection,’ if you will, of the creative process from Kunkel along with what he hopes listeners take away from this record.
“The first song I wrote for Gemini was “Copycat.” It set the mood for the entire record. After writing it I told myself, “This! This is where I want to take the next record.” My co-producer, F.J. DeSanto (from Hypefactor) came into the picture shortly after “Copycat.” I gave him some other tracks to hear that I’d been working on like “Killer” and “Bloom.” We talked about where the record should go, what themes it should focus on, and how to give it a more “live” feel. Up to that point in The New Division’s history, I basically had written and produced all the records practically alone. F.J.’s vision and guidance were highly influential, if not crucial in how I wrote Gemini. One of the interesting things F.J. suggested was working with Charles M. LaBarbara who provided bass duties on all the tracks. Charles had worked previously with F.J.’s band, Hypefactor, and was already a New Division fan. Gemini’s blend of studio/live feel is greatly indebted to his performance.”
“Gemini was inspired by a lot of different music, but I think its pretty clear that I was getting a lot of inspiration from ’90s Depeche Mode, early New Order, and Tears for Fears (anything else similar to those acts). Songs like “Golden Winter Child” and “Murder Shock” were inspired by shoegaze and early 2000s progressive house.”
“I hope that listeners get a lot out of Gemini. I personally think its The New Division’s best record to date. I think the songs finally match the production, which I could argue in previous records was not always necessarily the case. It’s a record I’m proud of, and I hope whoever listens to it gets nothing but joy and happiness out of it.”
Great band, great album.