Aquarian Blood

Aquarian Blood weaves together shadowy atmospheres across an array of genres, bound by a shared preoccupation with foreboding textures and Southern gothic atmospheres. The Memphis collective moves fluidly between ferocious synthesizer-driven punk and restrained, nearly inaudible acoustic pieces steeped in blues, folk, and gospel traditions, evoking the spectral inhabitants of a cursed locale. Deeply embedded in the city’s underground milieu where punk collides with traditional sounds, the band delivered a raw, turbulent energy on their 2017 debut Last Nite in Paradise, shifted toward intimate acoustic arrangements on 2019’s A Love That Leads to War, and explored richer sonic layers on 2021’s Bending the Golden Hour while retaining the restrained menace of the previous release.

J.B. Horrell, guitarist and vocalist from the abrasive Memphis punk outfit Ex-Cult, launched the project in 2014 alongside his wife Laurel Horrell, also known as Laurel Ferdon, a drummer and singer previously associated with the unconventional punk group Nots. Already working together in Moving Finger, the couple conceived Aquarian Blood as an outlet for blending experimental punk with roots-infused elements. They began with two cassette releases on Zap Cassettes and expanded live lineups that occasionally grew to seven members. Aligning with Memphis’s Goner Records, they issued Last Nite in Paradise, an intensely fragmented recording that incorporated keyboards, horns, violin, and sitar alongside standard rock instrumentation. After the band’s drummer suffered a broken arm, J.B. and Laurel deliberately steered the music toward quieter dynamics, resulting in the largely acoustic, roots-focused A Love That Leads to War. Bending the Golden Hour reintroduced select electric elements yet preserved the understated, ominous approach. Captured at the Horrells’ residence with contributions from Coltrane Duckworth, Jesse Davis, Keith Cooper, and Graham Winchester, the album drew from 43 songs written and tracked throughout 2020 before Zac Ives of Goner refined the material into its final 17-track form.