The New Normal is an album released by Australian progressive rock

Progressive rock

Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

 band Cog

Cog (band)

Cog are an Australian progressive rock band that formed in 1998. Their debut album The New Normal was nominated for Triple J's 2005 J Award. The band's music draws influences from Tool, Isis, Nina Simone, Bob Marley, Leftfield, Deftones and Helmet...

 in April, 2005. The album was produced in Weed

Weed, California

Weed is a city located in Siskiyou County, California. As of the 2010 Census, the town had a total population of 2,967, down from 2,979 at the 2000 census. There are several unincorporated communities adjacent to, or just outside Weed proper. These include Edgewood, Carrick, Lake Shastina, Rancho...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 by Sylvia Massy

Sylvia Massy

Sylvia Massy is an entrepreneur, record producer, and studio engineer in the United States. Massy is perhaps best recognized for her work on 1993's Undertow, the full-length double platinum-selling debut for Los Angeles rock band Tool.-History:...

, who has worked with artists such as Tool

Tool (band)

Tool is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1990, the group's line-up has included drummer Danny Carey, guitarist Adam Jones, and vocalist Maynard James Keenan. Since 1995, Justin Chancellor has been the band's bassist, replacing their original bassist Paul D'Amour...

 and Spiderbait

Spiderbait

Spiderbait are an Australian alternative rock band formed in Finley in 1989 by bass guitarist Janet English, singer-drummer Mark Maher , and guitarist Damian Whitty. In 2004 the group's cover version of the 1930s Lead Belly song "Black Betty" reached number one on the ARIA Singles Chart...

. Music videos for the songs My Enemy and Run have being made, and Run was also released as a CD single in August.

The New Normal is in many ways a concept album

Concept album

In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...

, with the central concept being the oppression and injustice of a consumerist society. The ways in which we can solve these problems are also explored, as are their effects on an individual's state of mind. Another large concept on the album is the need to "speak out" against these issues (hence the image of a megaphone in the front cover of the CD case).

The New Normal was made the album of the week on Triple J

Triple J

triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...

, and was also nominated for the 2005 J Award

J Award

The J Award is an award given by influential Australian youth radio station Triple J to Australian Album of the Year. It is judged by a panel of members of the music industry, led by Richard Kingsmill...

. The album peaked at number 19 on the Australian Recording Industry Association

Australian Recording Industry Association

The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...

s album chart.

Radio singles

• "Real Life" - February 2005 - as radio edit
• "My Enemy" - March 2005
• "Run" - August 2005 - as radio edit
• "Resonate" - March 2006

Track listing

1. "Real Life" – 5:56
2. "Anarchy OK" – 6:22
3. "Silence is Violence" – 7:39
4. "Resonate" – 4:31
5. "The Spine" – 7:11
6. "My Enemy" – 3:33
7. "Run" – 5:08
8. "The River Song" – 7:39
9. "Charades" – 3:59
10. "Doors (Now & Then My Life Feels Like It's Going Nowhere)" – 10:14
11. "Naming the Elephant" – 10:46

Personnel

• Flynn Gower – lead vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
   and guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  
• Lucius Borich – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  , vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  , samples
  Sampler (musical instrument)
  A sampler is an electronic musical instrument similar in some respects to a synthesizer but, instead of generating sounds, it uses recordings of sounds that are loaded or recorded into it by the user and then played back by means of a keyboard, sequencer or other triggering device to perform or...
  
  
• Luke Gower – bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
   and vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Cog – producer, album design
• Sylvia Massy Shivy – producer, mixing
• Rich Veltrop – co-producer, engineer, mixing
• Kale Holmes – mixing
• Cecil Gregory – studio assistant
• Seabrian Arata – ProTools editor
• Tom Baker – mastering
• Sean "Speed Pan" Boucher – recording & engineering (pre-production)
• Daniel Parkinson – album design
• Andrzej Liguz – group photography