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At the end of May, No Age surprised members of the press with an advance copy of its new album, An Object, in a box designed, printed, and manufactured by the band and their collaborator Brian Roettinger.

The physical object has a conceptual link to the writing and recording of the album, as the band approached the new record with a "sound as material" physicality during the mixing process, and shaped sounds with contact microphones and prepared speakers while recording. 

The silkscreen-printed promo boxes and album packaging are in line with editorial philosophies of small presses like Rollo Press, where the artist is inextricably linked to the commercial production of the work. By acting as the physical manufacturer of the album, the band hopes "the roles [of manufacturer, artist, musician] trip on themselves, and individual parts lose their distinct meanings, demanding to be considered as a whole."

UPDATE: We just received some additional production details from Sub Pop. The band designed and manufactured a special edition of 10,000 copies of the album. Half of those are vinyl, and half are CD, but both will read "Manufactured by No Age" in the bottom left corner. After those initial 10,000 copies are gone, Sub Pop will produce a second, non-silkscreen printed version of the album with a reversed color scheme that won't have the same manufacturing message. The boxes seen in the first photo below were also printed by the band to deliver the covers to the manufacturing plant.  

Check out photos of the production below, read Ian Cohen's recent interview with the band, and keep an eye out to pre-order a copy of the record from Sub Pop.