Clandestine Songs is Grand Mal’s sixth album and will be digitally released by Swedish indie label Groover Recordings. The album’s release will be supported by a 5-track digital EP, Lower Yer Heart, which features material previously not available in the U.S. The EP’s title track, “Lower Yer Heart,” is also featured on Clandestine Songs.

Clandestine Songs follows suit with their last release on Groover Recordings, 2007’s Congratulations: You’ve Rejoined the Human Race, having been recorded by singer/guitarist/producer Bill Whitten in his Brooklyn apartment and drawing from New York City’s vast pool of rock-and-roll talent. Parker Kindred of Antony and the Johnsons, Brad Truax of Home, Justin Russo of The Silent League, Jason Russo of Hopewell, Mike Fadem of The Jealous Girlfriends and others play and sing on the album. Ken Griffin of the Favourite Sons and Rollerskate Skinny duets with Grand Mal singer Bill Whitten on standout tracks “Lower Yer Heart” and “Children of Light.” New York’s best guitarist, Mike Bones, provides incandescent guitar solos on the songs “Call My Name” and “You Mean Well.”

Whitten began releasing albums in the early ’90s with the band St. Johnny, a Connecticut quartet responsible for the lost shoe-gaze classic Speed is Dreaming. Their guitar-heavy noise pop prompted comparisons to Sonic Youth, The Ramones and, well, Suede...

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