''A Day of Nights'' is the only studio album by American

post-metal Post-metal is a music genre rooted in heavy metal but exploring approaches beyond metal conventions. It emerged in the 1990s with bands such as Neurosis and Godflesh, who transformed metal texture through experimental composition. In a way simil ...

band

Battle of Mice Battle of Mice was an American post-metal supergroup consisting of Julie Christmas (Made Out of Babies), Josh Graham (ex-Neurosis, ex- Red Sparowes, A Storm of Light), Joel Hamilton ( Book of Knots), Tony Maimone (Book of Knots, Pere Ubu), a ...

. It was released on October 6, 2006 through

Neurot Recordings Neurot Recordings is an American independent record label founded by members of avant-garde metal band Neurosis in 1999. Gradually expanding, it has showcased a variety of artists including a number of sludge metal, post-rock, and noise bands. ...

label. According to singer

Julie Christmas Julie Christmas (born December 25, 1975) is an American musician from Brooklyn, New York. Christmas is her legal middle name; she was named so after the fact that she was born on Christmas day. She is the former lead singer of defunct Brooklyn-b ...

, the album is "written in a timeline that mirrors what was happening between Josh rahamand me in our growing, and then rapidly decaying, relationship."

Background

Battle of Mice formed in 2005 when vocalist Julie Christmas' band

Made Out of Babies Made Out of Babies was a sludge metal band from Brooklyn, New York formed in 2004 that disbanded in 2012. Biography Drawing equally from noise rock bands such as The Jesus Lizard and post-metal bands such as Isis, the band developed a following ...

played

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

with guitarist Josh Graham's band

Red Sparowes Red Sparowes is an American, Los Angeles-based post-rock band, comprising current and former members of Isis, Marriages, The Nocturnes, Halifax Pier, Angel Hair and Pleasure Forever. Their sound is characteristic of soundscape-influenced expe ...

. The two "hated each other immediately", according to Christmas, but when they toured the West Coast together, a "long-distance relationship ensued, the furious and occasionally harrowing nature of which is reflected in the music of Battle of Mice," with Graham in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and Christmas in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. The band then added

Pere Ubu Pere Ubu is an American rock group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. The band had a variety of long-term and recurring band members, with singer David Thomas being the only member staying throughout the band's lifetime. They released their d ...

Tony Maimone Tony Maimone (born September 27, 1952) is a bassist, producer, and recording engineer, who lives in Brooklyn, New York. He was a member of Pere Ubu from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s, often playing with drummer Scott Krauss. The duo were dubbe ...

on bass and The Book of Knots' Joel Hamilton on guitar. The album's track ordering chronicles the disintegration of Christmas and Graham's relationship. The band finished tracking five of the album's seven songs before the toxicity between Christmas and Graham created a working environment that was too uncomfortable for Maimone to continue in. By that point, the pair refused to be in the same room as each other, leading the guitars and the vocals to be completed on separate days. Christmas' vocals were recorded in one take without pre-written lyrics. The song "At the Base of the Giant's Throat" contains a 911 call that Christmas states took one take to make. "I am actually not allowed to talk about that," she said. Before the album's closing song "Cave of Spleen" was recorded, a band member was reported to have "accidentally" fallen down a staircase.

Track listing

Personnel

(

) – vocals * Josh Graham (ex-

Neurosis Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving chronic distress, but neither delusions nor hallucinations. The term is no longer used by the professional psychiatric community in the United States, having been eliminated from th ...

, ex-

A Storm of Light A Storm of Light is an American heavy metal band from New York City, formed in 2008. They have been categorized as post-rock, post-metal, doom metal, sludge metal and hard rock, but have moved toward a darker and heavier metal sound. Rock-A-Rol ...

) – guitars, keyboards, and vocals * Joel Hamilton ( The Book of Knots) – guitar *

( The Book of Knots,

) – bass * Joe Tomino (

Fugees Fugees (; sometimes The Fugees) is an American hip hop group formed in the early 1990s. Deriving its name from a shortening of the word "refugees", the group consists of Wyclef Jean, Pras Michel, and Lauryn Hill. The group rose to fame with its ...

Dub Trio Dub Trio is a dub/rock cross-over band from Brooklyn, New York City, New York. History Dub Trio consists of bassist Stu Brooks, guitarist DP Holmes, and drummer Joe Tomino. With the addition of electronic, rock, punk and heavy metal, the group pa ...

Peeping Tom Lady Godiva (; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English , was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries. Today, she is mainly reme ...

) – drums

References

Battle of Mice albums 2006 debut albums {{2000s-metal-album-stub