The Body & Cel Genesis Announce Collaborative Album Whole Wide World

The Body and Cel Genesis join forces for a heavy, experimental collision of distortion, trance and electronica

Portland experimental metal duo The Body and Oakland artist Cel Genesis have announced their debut collaborative album, Whole Wide World, due November 13 via Thrill Jockey, alongside lead single “Candy Crush.”

The collaboration began on tour, with the artists approaching the project without many rules beyond friendship, humility and a willingness to surrender their usual creative processes. The result is a dense and unpredictable meeting point between Cel Genesis’ maximalist electronic approach and The Body’s improvisational, boundary-pushing sound.

“Candy Crush” offers a first taste of that collision. Built around ominous drones, intense vocals and a pounding rave beat, the track shifts between extremes with little warning, creating something that feels as much rooted in experimental electronica and trance as it does in The Body’s notoriously heavy sound.

https://youtu.be/u6OyPbLoiUA?si=u3oyAtz6wb5gnfEP

Rhythm is central to the record, with The Body’s Lee Buford and Nick Cowman locking into the same drum setup and providing much of the album’s physical weight. Around them, distorted electronics, samples and vocals were repeatedly edited, rearranged and pushed into new forms across a two-year recording process.

Recorded at Machines with Magnets by Seth Manchester, with additional recording in California by Andrew Oswald, Whole Wide World developed through multiple sessions and an intentionally fluid process. Some tracks began with electronic foundations created by Cel Genesis, while others grew from live drum recordings before being reshaped by the group.

Despite its intensity, the album is described as a joyful and uncategorizable collaboration — a project built around egoless experimentation rather than either artist simply imposing their established sound on the other.

Whole Wide World arrives November 13 via Thrill Jockey, with “Candy Crush” out now.