Ripship Releases New Album ‘Fearsome Engine’
Fearsome Engine is the debut LP of sci-fi psych-rock duo Ripship. The nine-track album is an evolution of their genre-bending 2020 EP Greebles, expanding on themes of space exploration, technological anxiety and exponential growth. With the help of producer Peter Ruddell, Fearsome Engine makes no compromises. Lush synthetic soundscapes ebb and flow over polyrhythmic drum grooves and crushing guitars, and vocoded vocals provide robotic low-end. An uneasy sense of existential dread lies just beneath the goofy, tongue-in-cheek lyricism of Lincoln and McLean.
The opening track, The Great Filter, begins with the division of cells in a systematically noisy march. The closer, B13, guides the listener through an eldritch nightmare. From computer supremacy to climate change, Fearsome Engine is an album about everything that ever was, and everything that will ever be.
Fearsome Engine is pressed to baby pink vinyl via the label 1:12 Records in a beautiful gatefold package.
Guitars were recorded by Ryan Brand at Cordial Studios, the rest was recorded and produced by Peter Ruddell (Sulfate, Jazmine Mary). The album was mastered by James Goldsmith.
Ripship are a sci-fi psych-rock duo hailing from Tāmaki Makaurau. The prolific performers shake venues with heavy riffs, off-kilter beats and deep synth loops. Science fiction and technological anxiety influence both the timbre and subject matter of Ripship’s songs, with vocoded lyrics touching on AI uprising, interstellar travel and the heat death of the universe.
Callum Lincoln (guitar, synth, vocals) and Eva-Rae McLean (drums, vocals) met at a gig in 2018, but would have crossed paths many times in the Tamaki all-ages scene circa 2015-2016. Ripship’s live performances are well-reviewed, with audiences and critics noting the surprisingly massive sound for a two-piece.
Photo Credit: Heidi Watson
