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Thou presents: This is not a record

After a long break, the Ghent collective Thou is finally back, albeit in a rather surprising way. From the 27th of August onwards, the band will offer three songs for sale exclusively through the internet. And this is just the beginning of a much bigger plan: on a regular basis, spread out over a year, Thou will offer three new songs. By the time we’ve reached the summer of 2008 there will be a total of 12 new Thou songs available on the internet. This means that there will not be a full album but, if we have to give it a name, a ‘collection of EP’s’. In the past, Thou has already released four ‘conventional’ albums and one EP. Quite an impressive body of work, if you ask us. So why this sudden change of plan? To record an album there has to be a ‘classical’ method of working: you write songs during a certain period of time and then you arrange and rehearse them with the band in order to be able to step into the studio and record your collection of songs in a studio, trying to make sure that you will obtain the desired result: a record. In 2007, Thou has bravely opted for a radically new approach. Liberated from the format of the classical album there is more room for experimentation. Listening to the new songs, you can hear that this newly begotten freedom has inspired Thou and given them the opportunity to show the differences within the band in an organic way. Moreover, the flexibility of the internet has provided the chance to work in a swift and direct manner. The period between writing a song and the eventual release date will become much shorter which will only enhance the spontaneity. After all: who doesn’t love “spontaneity”? These are exciting times for us and, hopefully, for you too.