HURT: The Crux – new album

Stream the new HURT album, ‘The Crux’, here at AOL Music. ‘The Crux’ is out now, May 1st, 2012 on Dallas-based independent label Carved Records. The album was produced by HURT guitarist Michael Roberts and the band, and mixed by John Kurzweg; it offers “11 riveting examples of HURT's distinctive mix of sonic impact and subtle dynamics, as manifested in the songs' multi-layered instrumental settings as well as J. Loren's [founder, vocalist and violinist] distinctive violin textures and expressive string arrangements”. If you like what you hear then, buy ‘The Crux’ here (Carved Records), here (Amazon) or via iTunes.

“We wanted this to be a record of extremes,” [offered HURT frontman J. Loren] “We wanted it to be its own musical world that the listener can step into, and then return to again and again, and find something new to discover every time.” [Referring to the band's signing with an independent label he said:] “Being independent again has been incredibly liberating. I know that we’re a hard band to classify or put into an easy genre, but I don’t really care. If you’re going to do something that’s from the heart and from the soul, you can’t betray it for the sake of convenience. You just have to do your best and be as honest as you can, and then hang up your hat for the night, try to get some sleep, and try to be even better the next day.”

HURT was formed in 2000  in rural Virginia by then 15-years old J. Loren; they have ultimately relocated to the American West Coast. They self-released a self-titled debut album in 2000, which was followed by ‘The Consumation’ in 2003 that garnered enough word-of-mouth attention to win them a deal with Capitol Records. HURT issued two albums through Capitol, ‘Vol. 1’ in 2006 and ‘Vol. II’ in 2007. HURT have toured alongside some of rock's biggest names, including STAIND and ALICE IN CHAINS. To date, HURT has sold over a quarter million albums.

HURT features: J. Loren – vocals and violin, Michael Roberts – guitar, Rek Mohr – bass and Victor Ribas - drums