The Middle Ages

The Sheila Divine’s sixth album, The Middle Ages (out on Trash Casual), is a deeply human document of everyday life, brought to reality at the hand of a songwriter who has spent his adult years transparently trying to make sense of the world. Across ten new tracks Perrino bares his soul and searches his heart in songs that navigate the wide gamut of lived experience: from the wrenching loss of his mother, through parental anxieties for his own children’s wellbeing, to the strains of congested city life, fractured relationships, and rage at what his nation has turned into. While no stranger to confounding times, (the group’s career traverses the whiplashing political landscapes of Clinton, GW Bush, Obama, and Trump) the sounds on The Middle Ages are perhaps Perrino’s most dangerous and most urgent yet. On display is what he describes as “all of my pissed off Gen X angst about aging, the failure of capitalism, death, heartbreak and what the future holds in the back half of my life where everything is so grim.” As the only constant of The Sheila Divine, collaboration has always been integral to Perrino’s process, and The Middle Ages is no exception. A fresh lineup of Boston scene allies (and occasional past collaborators) features Will Claflin on guitar, Paul Buckley on drums, Andy Rooney on bass, and Steven Lord on guitar. The recordings get dynamic mixing treatment from Wally Gagel (Cold War Kids, Superchunk) and mastering polish from Pete Weiss (Morphine, Juliana Hatfield).