The Puzzle and Snuggles are the nineteenth and the twentieth studio albums by Canadian metal musician Devin Townsend, released on his own label HevyDevy Records on December 3, 2021.
| The Puzzle / Snuggles | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The Puzzle cover | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | December 3, 2021 | |||
| Recorded | 2020–2021 | |||
| Studio | The Armoury Studios, The Farm, Devlab, and The Armory, Vancouver, Canada | |||
| Genre | Ambient, experimental[1] | |||
| Length | 65:17 (The Puzzle) 38:32 (Snuggles) | |||
| Label | HevyDevy | |||
| Producer | Devin Townsend | |||
| Devin Townsend chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Snuggles | ||||
 Snuggles cover | ||||
Production
editDevin Townsend has explained that The Puzzle is "an elaborate and much more chilled out" version of his 2004 album Devlab[2] and "more a collaborative, multimedia art project that acts as a stopgap between Empath and the next record" that "gave me a chance to purge and be completely creatively free", whereas Snuggles is "meant to be something you listen to in order to feel better... Puzzle is chaos, Snuggles is calm. The whole project is meant to express that I think there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel we’ve been through."[3] The two albums serve as a prelude to a "more traditional album", Lightwork, produced by Garth Richardson (Rage Against the Machine, Mudvayne, Nickelback) and released in November 2022, and "an ambitious project he’s been teasing for years called The Moth".[4]
Track listing
editAll tracks are written by Devin Townsend, except were noted
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Chromatic Ridge" | 3:43 | |
| 2. | "Life Is But a Dream" | 3:29 | |
| 3. | "Yucky Lung" | 1:22 | |
| 4. | "Kittenhead" | 1:13 | |
| 5. | "Shark in the Ice" | 1:49 | |
| 6. | "Devil in the Details" | 0:58 | |
| 7. | "Hammerhead Sugarplum" | 3:47 | |
| 8. | "Me and the Moon" | 4:12 | |
| 9. | "Anxiety in Pyjamas" | 3:28 | |
| 10. | "The Yugas" | Townsend, Mike Keneally | 3:01 |
| 11. | "Albert Hall" | 3:58 | |
| 12. | "StarChasm" | Townsend, Steve Vai | 3:59 |
| 13. | "Perfect Owl" | 2:17 | |
| 14. | "Maybe Over the Void" | Townsend, Mattias Eklundh | 2:56 |
| 15. | "Light Year Whale" | Townsend, Anneke Van Giersbergen | 4:31 |
| 16. | "FrogFlowers" | Townsend, Eklundh | 1:11 |
| 17. | "Mother" | Townsend, Tina Ahlin | 4:28 |
| 18. | "Southern Sky Geometry" | 2:11 | |
| 19. | "The Puzzle" | 5:22 | |
| 20. | "Monuments of Glitch" | 7:22 | |
| Total length: | 65:17 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Beyond Measure" | 1:31 | |
| 2. | "Blue Dot" | Townsend, Ché Aimee Dorval | 3:07 |
| 3. | "Drifting and Dreaming" | 4:26 | |
| 4. | "Sundance" | 0:53 | |
| 5. | "Minds Are Changing" | 3:46 | |
| 6. | "The Ocean" | 4:54 | |
| 7. | "Distant, Elegant" | 3:34 | |
| 8. | "Replikiss" | 3:33 | |
| 9. | "I Agree" | 3:23 | |
| 10. | "Tryst" | 3:30 | |
| 11. | "Sunset Rump" | 1:32 | |
| 12. | "The Option" | 4:23 | |
| Total length: | 38:32 | ||
Personnel
editCredits adapted from the albums' liner notes.[5][6]
The Puzzle
edit- Devin Townsend – bass, guitar, vocals, keyboards and synths
- Morgan Ågren — drums and percussion, vocals
- Fazal – drums and percussion
- Anup Sastry — drums and percussion
- Chris Kelly — drums and percussion, vocals
- Kat Epple — drums and percussion, keyboards and synths, strings, wind instruments, and horns
- Nathan Navarro – bass
- Jonas Hellborg – bass
- Jean Savoie – bass
- Mike Keneally – guitar
- Aman Khosla – guitar, vocals
- Steve Vai – guitar
- Plini – guitar
- Mark Cimino – guitar, vocals, keyboards and synths
- Matt Picone – guitar
- Andy McKee – guitar
- Jed Simon – guitar
- Chrys Johnson – guitar
- Yotam Afik – guitar
- Buckley Kelly – guitar
- Ana Patan – guitar, vocals
- John Bertsche – guitar, vocals
- Tina Ågren – vocals
- Echo Picone – vocals
- Tanya Ghosh – vocals
- Gitai Barak – vocals
- Ché Aimee Dorval – vocals
- Anneke van Giersbergen – vocals
- Samantha Preis – vocals
- Anne Preis – vocals
- Arabella Packford – vocals
- Blindboy Boatclub – vocals
- Shiraz Afik – vocals
- Korina Savoie – vocals
- Chris Johnson – vocals
- Mom Alvarado – vocals
- Pete Mark – vocals
- Amy Wong – vocals
- Mattias Eklundh – keyboards and synths, strings, wind instruments, and horns
- Diego Tejeida – keyboards and synths
- Ben Searles – keyboards and synths
- Mike St-Jean – keyboards and synths
- Phillip Peterson – strings, wind instruments, and horns
- Neyveli Radhakrishna – strings, wind instruments, and horns
- Jørgen Munkeby – strings, wind instruments, and horns
Snuggles
edit- Devin Townsend – drums and percussion, bass, guitar, vocals, keyboards and synths
- Morgan Ågren – drums and percussion
- Chris Kelly – drums and percussion
- Paul Soroski – drums and percussion
- Jake VanDerGinst – drums and percussion
- Kat Epple – drums and percussion, keyboards and synths, strings, wind instruments, and horns
- Andy McKee – drums and percussion, guitar
- Nathan Navarro – bass
- Jean Savoie – bass
- Andy Timmons – guitar
- Markus Reuter – guitar
- Chrys Johnson – guitar
- Buckley Kelly – guitar
- Ana Patan – guitar, vocals
- Tina Ahlin – vocals
- Aman Khosla – vocals
- Tanya Ghosh – vocals
- Omer Cordell – vocals
- Ché Aimee Dorval – vocals
- Ash Pearson – vocals
- Chika Buston – vocals
- Samantha Preis – vocals
- Anne Preis – vocals
- Arabella Packford – vocals
- Adrian Mottram – vocals
- Katrina Natale – vocals
- Mattias Eklund – keyboards and synths, strings, wind instruments, and horns
- Diego Tejeida – keyboards and synths
- Phillip Peterson – strings, wind instruments, and horns
- Neyveli Radhakrishna – strings, wind instruments, and horns
Technical
edit- Devin Townsend – production, engineering, editing, mixing
- Leonardo Delgado – additional editing
- Troy Glessner – mastering
- Levi Seitz – lacquer cut
- Travis Smith – artwork, packaging design
Charts
edit| Chart (2021) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[7] | 50 |
References
edit- ^ "THE WEEKLY INJECTION: New Releases From DEVIN TOWNSEND, VOLBEAT, and More Out Today - 12/3". Metal Injection. 2021-12-03. Retrieved 2021-12-05.
- ^ "Devin Townsend: Empath". Exclaim!. March 29, 2019.
- ^ "Devin Townsend Explains Two New Albums, The Puzzle and Snuggles, in New Documentary Series". MetalSucks. August 9, 2021.
- ^ "Devin Townsend Outlines Plans for Next Several Albums (Including The Moth!)". MetalSucks. August 25, 2021.
- ^ The Puzzle (liner notes). Devin Townsend. HevyDevy Records. 2021. HDR0001007.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ Snuggles (liner notes). Devin Townsend. HevyDevy Records. 2021. HDR0001008.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ "Devin Townsend: The Puzzle / Snuggles" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved January 3, 2022.