Futurist’s third studio album, ‘Year of the Ox,’ is project just over five years in the making, completed during the height of the global 2020 upheaval. The record confronts the modern perils of our technocratic, dystopian lockdowns, news cycles drenched in fear and misinformation, political division and civil unrest, and the pain found in our karmic, romantic relationships that bring all of our unacknowledged demons to the surface to face once and for all.

In the era of singles and instant gratification, Futurist digs deep with their rock-opera describing the descent of mankind at the hands of its own creations. Curtis Peel’s fascination with Joseph Campbell’s “Hero with a Thousand Faces,” occult mythology, astrological archetypes, ayahuasca and ceremonial medicines, and the lost art of the concept record have all culminated into the sonic landscape and the band’s compositional maturity shines through with every sharp turn and wistful arrival. The record is drenched with moments of paranoia, longing, defeat, and ultimately triumph, signaling that the only way out is through.