Supergroup Minor Victories Set ‘Cogs’ Back in Motion

Last year, Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell, Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite, Editors’ Justin Lockey and Hand Held Cine Club’s James Lockey (yes, they’re brothers) joined forces for their self-titled debut as atmospheric supergroup Minor Victories. Now, they’ve announced a sequel of sorts, Orchestral Variations. It's a collection of new instrumental takes based off last year’s Minor Victories, and it's slated for a small-batch vinyl release next month, with a proper release to follow in January.

Additionally, Minor Victories have unveiled a black and white video for album opener “Cogs.” It details the plodding journey of your everyday wanderlust sufferer, traveling through urban jungles and dense forests in search of ... something. Watch the video below, and scroll down for the album artwork and track list, plus tour dates.

Clear 180-gram double vinyl editions of Minor Victories' Orchestral Variations will hit North American shelves on Black Friday (November 25) via Fat Possum, with a full-fledged release slated for January 27.

Here's what Justin Lockey had to say about the record in a press release:

I don’t really know that much about music in terms of theory, notes, scales, etc. I generally just fuck about with things until it sounds right to my ear ... So, I guess to call this album Orchestral Variations, it would have to be in the loosest ever sense of the term.

When we were putting together the Minor Victories album, a lot of the music came about through string arrangements, motifs, melodies, countermelodies and other such noodlings I was messing about with. This record kind of takes it back to that initial point, and reimagines the whole record from that standpoint — the bare bones, the hint at a vocal melody, not relying on any backbeat — but stripping the songs back to the base elements and then piece-by-piece making an entirely new record. It takes the songs and elements around them and the phrases into a new place, mostly born out of hindsight and, I guess, a curiosity to fuck around with it all long enough until it sounded right to my ear. From all that, an entirely new record was formed. It’s not a remix album, or b-sides ... it’s just another way at looking / hearing things.

MINOR VICTORIES, ORCHESTRAL VARIATIONS TRACK LIST
1. “Cogs”
2. “Breaking My Light”
3. “The Thief”
4. “Give Up the Ghost”
5. “Scattered Ashes”
6. “Folk Arp”
7. “For You Always”
8. “A Hundred Ropes”
9. “Higher Hopes”
10. “Out to Sea”

MINOR VICTORIES on TOUR
Oct. 24 — Minalo, Italy @ Santeria Social Club
Oct. 25 — Vienna, Austria @ Ottakringer Brewery
Oct. 26 — Lausanne, Czech Republic @ Les Docks
Oct. 27 — Brussels, Belgium @ Botanique
Oct. 29 — Port-Jérôme-Sur-Seine, France @ Pitchfork Music Festival: Paris
Oct. 30 — Düsseldorf, Germany @ Zakk
Oct. 31 — Berlin, Germany @ SO36
Nov. 1 — Dresden, Germany @ Beatpol
Nov. 2 — Munich, Germany @ Feierwerk
Nov. 4 — Reykjavik, Iceland @ Iceland Airwaves
Nov. 5 — Den Haag, Netherlands @ Crossing Border Festival
Nov. 6 — Hamburg, Germany @ Markthalle
Nov. 7 — Copenhagen, Denmark @ Pumpehuset
Dec. 2 — Glasgow, Scotland @ The SSE Hydro *
Dec. 3 — Leeds, England @ First Direct Arena *
Dec. 5 — Manchester, England @ Manchester Arena *
Dec. 6 — Nottingham, England @ Motorpoint Arena *
Dec. 8 — Birmingham, England @ Barclaycard Arena *
Dec. 10 — Dublin, Ireland @ 3Arena *
Dec. 11 — Liverpool, England @ The Magnet
Dec. 12 — Newport, England @ Newport Centre *
Dec. 13 — Oxford, England @ O2 Academy 2 Oxford
Dec. 14 — Brighton, England @ Brighton Centre *
Dec. 15 — London, England @ Wembly Arena *
* with Placebo