Bosse-de-Nage and Deafheaven’s landmark 2012 Split has been newly remixed and remastered and returns to vinyl and cassette for the first time in 14 years. Featuring new artwork by photographer Dylan Hausthor, the long-awaited reissue breathes new life into an essential early collaboration between two acclaimed Bay Area metal bands.
Formed in 2006, Bosse-de-Nage first encountered Deafheaven at one of the latter’s earliest shows, held at a now-defunct art gallery in San Francisco’s Mission District. Deafheaven’s demo had just begun making a splash online. “Their performance was amazing; it was clear right away that they were a force to be reckoned with,” Bosse-de-Nage recalls. At a time before blackgaze and post-black metal had fully cohered into recognizable movements, the bands recognized something familiar in one another. They began playing shows together and formed a friendship that has endured ever since.
The exact genesis of Split has been lost to time. Arriving just over a year after Deafheaven’s 2011 debut Roads to Judah, neither band can remember who first proposed the collaboration, only that the idea made immediate sense. Deafheaven contributed a cover of Mogwai’s “Punk Rock / Cody,” while Bosse-de-Nage contributed the original “A Mimesis of Purpose,” which marked their first collaboration with Astrid J. Smith, arranging and performing strings.
Released by The Flenser in 2012, Split became an early milestone for the label and both bands. “We’ve been looking forward to this project for a while,” Deafheaven vocalist George Clarke said at the time. “It’s very exciting to be working with two of the most innovative and forward-thinking staples in the Bay Area, Bosse-de-Nage and Flenser Records.”
After years out of print, both bands chose to revisit their contributions rather than simply repress the original release. Longtime Deafheaven collaborator Jack Shirley of Atomic Garden remixed “Punk Rock / Cody,” while Richard Chowenhill of Agriculture remixed Bosse-de-Nage’s “A Mimesis of Purpose,” bringing new clarity and dimension to both recordings.
Fourteen years later, Split remains a document of two bands encountering one another at a formative moment, recognizing something in each other before either knew where their music would lead. Newly remixed, remastered, and reimagined, the 2026 edition returns that moment to the present.
