Anthony LaMarca of The Building (also known for his role as guitarist in The War On Drugs) shares wonderful track, “All Things New,” available now on all DSPs and streaming services; an equally potent companion video is streaming now via The Building’s official YouTube channel HERE. “All Things New” heralds The Building’s remarkable latest album, PETRA, due Friday, October 11 via Concord Records; pre-orders are available HERE. LaMarca spoke with Jeff Niesel of Cleveland Scene about PETRA HERE.
“I wrote “All Things New” a few years ago around the time I was going through the most intense part of my treatment A lot of it is me expressing my fear, my wanting to just go back to having a “normal” life. But also me accepting (or trying to accept) that that wasn’t an option any more, and trying to see that that growth is a necessary part of life. And realizing that in that growth I will need help from others, that I can’t do these things by myself,” shares LaMarca of The Building.
PETRA – which shares its name with the LaMarcas’ beloved German Shepherd – is a bare-boned, often brutally blunt, new work from a gifted musician-songwriter forced by fate to confront life’s hardest truths and consequences. LaMarca had just begun recording at Youngstown’s Peppermint Productions when a spell of intense back pain led to his being diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. Originally, LaMarca was diagnosed in the middle of making Reconciliation. He immediately started treatment, which brought the disease into complete remission. His disease relapsed last year while in the middle of making PETRA. The experience inspired a second meaning to the album’s title, the acronym P-E-T-R-A, or “Peace’s Eternal Truth Renews All.” Moreover, LaMarca’s physical struggle has resulted in the most powerful work of The Building’s still-growing canon, a vivid series of deeply personal songs such as “Purifer” and the LP-opening “Transformed,” made even more impactful through strikingly simple arrangements and raw, heartfelt performance.