Six days before their first East Coast run, Portland post-punk quartet Nyx Division released the single “By Design” on 28 August 2026 through Bandcamp. The band play four dates between 3 and 6 September, including A Murder Of Crows XI at New York’s Bowery Ballroom.

Sasha Stroud recorded, mixed and mastered the track in August 2026 at Red Lantern Studios in Portland, Oregon. Domino Monet wrote the lyrics and sings; Justin Cory plays guitar, Alex Rivas bass, and Mason Wilkinson drums and percussion. Meg Adamson supplied the cover artwork and layout.

The lyric comes out of Monet’s own departure from the Mormon church. She describes the subject of the song as “the liminal expanse between awe and terror”, the point at which the loss of an inherited worldview meets the work of assembling another one. The repeated title turns a phrase normally used to argue for a divinely ordered universe into a statement of self-authorship.

The arrangement opens on acoustic guitar and a dry percussive rattle before the full band enters, with Cory’s guitar figures and Wilkinson’s percussion pushing against Rivas’s bassline. Monet holds her notes through the choruses.

Nyx Division tour dates September 2026

The band share the Philadelphia, Worcester and Cambridge dates with eX-Tradition. The New York show is the first of the two main nights of A Murder Of Crows XI, alongside Anja Huwe, Rosegarden Funeral Party, Creux Lies and Guilty Strangers.

• 3 September 2026 – Philadelphia, PA, USA – Cousin Danny’s Lounge, with eX-Tradition, NRG and Subtle Body
• 4 September 2026 – New York, NY, USA – Bowery Ballroom, A Murder Of Crows XI
• 5 September 2026 – Worcester, MA, USA – Distant Castle, with eX-Tradition
• 6 September 2026 – Cambridge, MA, USA – Middle East Upstairs, with eX-Tradition

About Nyx Division

Nyx Division formed in Portland, Oregon in 2021 as a four-piece playing post-punk with goth and rock elements. The line-up has held steady since the start: Domino Monet on vocals and lyrics, Justin Cory on guitar, Alex Rivas on bass, and Mason Wilkinson on drums and percussion.

The band’s first release, the single “Reckless Dark”, appeared on 5 November 2021, followed by “Orchid Rain” on 4 February 2022. Both were recorded and mixed by Evan Mersky at Red Lantern Studios in Portland and mastered by Parrillat at Niño Rata Studio in Mexico City, as was the “Dark Star” EP that arrived on 4 March 2022.

A three-year gap followed. The band returned with the single “Soldier of Love” on 1 August 2025 and the “Midnight Lights” release on 12 September 2025, on which Rivas and Cory added synthesizers to their bass and guitar parts and Wilkinson moved between drums and pad. All of the band’s releases so far have been issued independently, with no label involved.

“By Design” is the group’s first new recording since September 2025 and their first with Sasha Stroud at the desk. No album or EP has been announced to follow it.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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