Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires, Tito Discovery

On June 30th, Don Giovanni Records will release Youth Detention///(Nail My Feet Down to the South Side of Town), the third full-length album by Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires.

Call it Youth Detention for short.

A double LP spanning 17 songs, it is the band’s most ambitious work to date — a sprawling and visceral record given to both deep introspection and high-volume spiritual uplift.

Where The Glory Fires’ previous LP Dereconstructed (2014) sought to dismantle one-dimensional notions of Southern identity and culture, Youth Detention has a similar, but more personal intent. “It’s about dismantling myself and the narratives that I’ve taken on,” explains Bains. “It’s an examination of youth and the processes through which we begin to consider ourselves, our identities, and what various communities we belong to or are in tension with.” Often, the songs detail moments in which cultural boundaries and biases become apparent — scenes in which systems of privilege and oppression become visible, particularly as they relate to race, class, and gender. Everyday settings — a church, a ballpark, a cafeteria — are revisited again and again, to explore these fleeting moments of revelation from different perspectives and roles. It’s a record defined by accumulation. Stories, images, and thoughts pile up to create confusion and cacophony in the narrative.