In 2019, the same year that Billie Eilish leapt into stardom, another Gen Z artist who rose out of the SoundCloud bedroom pop scene delivered her own fully realized debut. Clairo’s Immunity and Eilish’s When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? were released just months apart from each other, and though the first leaned more on indie pop where the latter twisted the sounds of trap, hip-hop, and EDM, they both displayed a similar candidness about issues surrounding mental health and depression. Despite often being lumped in the same category of sensitive young artists, their trajectories ended up being vastly different but not entirely divergent. Between earning more Grammys than she seemed equipped to handle and having her every move scrutinized, Eilish would see the world she had created on her debut expand far beyond her grasp.
Unlike Clairo, who stepped away from the spotlight and didn’t release new music for almost two years, Eilish offered an intimate look into her emotional journey through a series of singles going back to 2019’s ‘everything i wanted’ – which brought her yet another Grammy – and the deeply personal documentary Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry. Rather than feed the hype machine, each release was a conscious attempt to expose the trappings of celebrity and trace a path to her own happiness when the idea of success had lost all meaning. Still, it did little to change the public’s perception: “When I retell a story, I make everything sound worse,” she sings on the opening track of her new album, Happier Than Ever, before realizing she’ll be faced with ignorance not just when she is being honest, but even when she’s not.
She refuses to alter her course; if anything, honesty is the one thing that keeps her grounded. “I’ve had some trauma, did things I didn’t wanna/ Was too afraid to tell ya, but now, I think it’s time,” she affirms at the end of the song, which is called ‘Getting Older’, effectively setting the stage for the rest of the album. The sentiment of the chorus – in which the future is disconcertingly uncertain and getting bored of what was once a dream is a real possibility – isn’t too far removed from the insecurities Clairo relayed on her own sophomore album, Sling, released earlier this month. If ‘Your Power’ was the only advance single from the album rather than one of five – as was the case with Clairo’s ‘Blouse’ – it might have been impossible not to compare the two release cycles. Not only do both artists confront past abusers while navigating their place in a music industry that objectifies them, they do so by ditching the alt-pop stylings of their respective debuts in favour of a more intimate and organic folk sound. And though Eilish’s palette on Happier Than Ever is more varied, they both seem eager to retreat into the sounds of an era they couldn’t have experienced first hand – Clairo looked to ‘70s singer-songwriter music, while Eilish, now 19, drew inspiration from jazz singers like Julie London, Frank Sinatra, and Peggy Lee.
The effect is similar: In the absence of inescapable hooks and bold production choices, Eilish’s restraint forces you to pay closer attention. Slower tempos allow the songs to breathe and move more freely, and Eilish’s voice is less often buried in a thick low-end or run through a filter, resulting in a different kind of intimacy. If When We All Fall Asleep masterfully channeled adolescent anxiety into a nightmarish pop album, the new LP gives the external impression of a dream while being rooted in the realities of fame. Eilish doesn’t flirt with fantasies of the past or the future so much as she explores the ways they haunt the present, her growing sense of responsibility reverberating through tracks like ‘Getting Older’, ‘Not My Responsibility’, and ‘Everybody Dies’. As she figures out her best course of action – or rather, reaction – her tone ranges from confrontational (‘Therefore I Am’) to darkly humorous (‘NDA’) to hopeful (‘my future’) – and when it does latch onto a sense of optimism, it’s neither corny nor ironic, but painfully earnest.
Relative to Sling, Happier Than Ever covers a lot more sonic territory, but it’s still a more cohesive album than When We All Fall Asleep. At its most exciting, it sounds less like a stylistic pivot than a maturation of the qualities that marked her debut, from the dark rush of ‘Oxycotin’ to the pulsating ‘NDA’ and the infectious energy of ‘Therefore I Am’. Just as Eilish’s voice and songwriting are given the space to shine, her brother and primary collaborator Finneas hones in on his ability to not only capture a mood but allow it to spread out in different directions. The climactic title track, teased as a simple acoustic cut, erupts into a moment of cathartic anger elevated by distorted guitars and soaring drums: “I don’t relate to you, no/ ‘Cause I’d never treat me this shitty!/ You made me hate this city!” Without it, the whole thing might have felt too flat.
Indeed, some of the album’s quieter moments, like ‘Everybody Dies’ and ‘Halley’s Comet’, are subdued but lacking in nuance, interesting but half-baked. A notable exception is the final track, ‘Male Fantasy’, the kind of plaintive acoustic song you could now imagine Clairo singing backing vocals on, and that the ‘i love you’ singer can no doubt do wonders with. In the past, Finneas would often join her in this type of song, but here it’s all just her. What begins as an attempt to “distract myself with pornography” becomes a critique of the titular theme, and finally, an opportunity for self-reflection: “It’s all I think about when I’m behind the wheel/ I worry this is how I’m always gonna feel/ But nothing lasts, I know the deal,” she sings with devastating resolve. Talking to herself, with the rest of the world seemingly shut out, she sounds like no one else.
Few things beat hitting the open road on your motorcycle for an extended trip. It is an unparalleled way of seeing some of the most beautiful places on earth.
You don’t have to go far to find some of those locations, either, with Ireland boasting several magnificent routes that show off vast amounts of stunning countryside and quaint villages.
From Donegal in the north to Galway on the west coast and Cork in the south, there are plenty of places to explore on the Emerald Isle.
Before setting off on such a trip, though, it’s worth ensuring your bike is in top working order by getting it serviced. You should also make room to carry some essentials with you in case you break down and ensure your motorbike insurance provides you with sufficient cover should anything go wrong.
Once you’ve got all those boring bits in order, it’s time to get out on the asphalt. Here are just a few of the amazing routes you could experience.
The Wild Atlantic Way
Distance: 1,600 miles (2,600km)
Areas covered: The entire west coast, from the Inishowen Peninsula in the north to picturesque Kinsale in the south.
Sights: Malin Head, Kilkee Cliffs, Downpatrick Head
Taking in nine of the 26 counties of Ireland, the Wild Atlantic Way is best reserved for the most experienced of riders if being tackled in one go.
However, the route is split up into 14 different stages, so it’s easy to break up into chunks and complete it over several visits. That way you can make the most of the 180 discovery points located along it.
The Burren Loop
Distance: 100 miles (1,500km)
Areas covered: County Clare
Sights: The Aran Islands, Burren National Park, the Cliffs of Moher
This route incorporates a small section of the Wild Atlantic Way but instead ventures inland as part of a dramatic figure of eight loop.
The Burren is a UNESCO World Heritage site that has had continuous human settlement for over 6,000 years. It also contains over 70% of Ireland’s native flora and 2,700 recorded monuments.
The Ring of Kerry
Distance: 111 miles (179km)
Areas covered: County Kerry
Sights: Moll’s Gap, Torc Waterfall, the Gap of Dunloe
Rolling green hills, white, sandy beaches and wonderfully colourful villages – there is plenty to see when you travel along the Ring of Kerry.
If you’re more interested in astronomy than science-fiction, you’ll be pleased to know that Kerry is a designated International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) International Dark Sky Reserve.
The Weeknd has shared a preview of a new song in a video titled ‘The Dawn Is Coming’. The nearly two-minute visual appears to mark the arrival of a new era, with Abel Tesfaye tweeting, “fuck it … IT STARTS TONIGHT.” Check out the new teaser below.
In recent months, Tesfaye has been cryptically using the phrase “the dawn is coming” when hinting at new music post-After Hours. “If the last record is the after hours of the night,” he said in an interview with Variety in May, “then the dawn is coming.” He also promised that “the dawn is coming” during a brief acceptance speech following his performance at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards that same month.
Throughout the week, we update our Best New Songs playlist with the new releases that caught our attention the most, be it a single leading up to the release of an album or a newly unveiled deep cut. And each Monday, we round up the best new songs released over the past week (the eligibility period begins on Monday and ends Sunday night) in this segment.
On this week’s list, we have a new track from Grouper, ‘Unclean mind’, a lush, ethereal ambient folk piece that leads her upcoming album Shade; Boy Scouts’ equally gorgeous and intimate ‘That’s Life Honey’, taken from Taylor Vick’s newly announced LP Wayfinder; the mesmerizingly nostalgic ‘Pond House’ by British indie pop trio Saint Etienne, who also announced a new album last week; Bruno Mars and Anderson. Paak’s anticipated new Silk Sonic single ‘Skate’, which is as infectiously smooth and vibrant as its predecessor; another incredible new track from Turnstile, ‘BLACKOUT’, which comes equipped with an explosive breakdown; Water From Your Eyes’ hypnotic yet pummelling new single ‘Track Five’; ‘Oxytocin’, a highlight off Billie Eilish’s new album that brilliantly combines her breathy vocals with abrasive production; and the staggering, climactic new single from Ada Lea’s forthcoming sophomore full-length, which begs to be sung along to: “I’ve had it with this place/ We’re all going insane/ I’ve had it with this place/ We’ve all gone insane.”
–––__––___, the new collaborative project of Seth Graham and Mari Maurice (More Eaze), are set to release their debut LP, The Heart Pumps Kool-Aid, on September 10 via Orange Milk Records (vinyl/digital) and Mondoj (CD). The album features contributions from Karen Ng, Nick Storring, Rob Magill, Metoronori, spoken word from proxy.exe, and guest vocals from recovery girl and Metoronori. We’ve already heard the singles ‘In Memory of Simon Kingston’ (featuring recovery girl) and ‘rock bottom ohio’ (featuring proxy.exe), and tomorrow, the duo are sharing the opener ‘When you’re hot around the narcs’, a minimal, deeply vulnerable track that sets the mood for the rest of the album. You can check out a video for the new single, directed by Graham, below, premiering early with Our Culture.
“This track was written after I got back from visiting my brother in the hospital, he almost died of sepsis from a syringe infection due to drug use,” Graham explained in a statement. “There is a sincere sadness to this, I was really sad and worried my brother would not survive the infection.”
Mari Maurice added: “this is one of the first tracks seth and i worked on together for this album and to me it feels like one of the most traditional tracks formally. the sense of deep melancholy was immediately apparent to me so i tried to match this lyrically and vocally. for this song, i wrote lyrics that reference and reframe brief phrases from borges, the last novel by david markson, and daytripper by fabio moon and gabriel ba. i was largely thinking of a sort of blasé sense of despair-that your life has perhaps ended or peaked before you really sensed it even beginning. a sort of numb sense of treading water. it was one of the few tracks that didn’t involve much layering or processing of the voice and the mixing in general reflects a naturalistic approach to the alien.”
It’s time to get inspired! While an art class can be a big investment, there are lots of ways to narrow down your search and find an amazing art class that will ignite your imagination.
Many students take up tutoring to help them excel in school and art classes come in all shapes and sizes, and for all levels of ability. Perhaps you’re looking for a certificated class to add to your résumé? Or wish to improve your technical skills? Maybe you need a nudge to nurture your creative side, or you’re seeking a new art or craft for their wellness benefits? Or it could be that it’s a great excuse to gather your friends together and visit some galleries?
Whatever is motivating you, there are some key questions to ask which will help you to find a great art class.
What are the practicalities of the class?
Simply put – time and money!
Figure out how much time you can reasonably commit, for the class and your practice at home. The typical weekly course is particularly good for art classes, which give you time to practice what you’ve learned at home and really maximise the benefits of the course.
However, a one-off workshop may be a great jump-start for your skills, or an intensive weekend could give you some in-depth insight. Shorter courses may also be a great way to test out a discipline or a tutor.
Also, think whether you need an evening class or a daytime art class, or if you are more flexible.
Art classes are also available at an accessible range of price points. Decide what you can afford early on – and don’t forget to factor in the cost of materials! To reduce your material costs, consider hiring equipment or taking a subscription (for example for photography courses where you might choose to hire a camera and take a monthly software subscription) or sharing costs with classmates. Bulk buying canvas material or other items can be very cost-effective.
Stay home or venture out?
Now that you have some thoughts about how much time and money you want to put into your art class, it’s time to think about where (and how) you want to learn.
While the traditional idea of an art class is in a specialised studio, there are some fantastic classes taking place all over – from your local community centre to the beach. Virtual art classes are also booming, and can be really flexible and incredibly rich experiences, too.
If you would prefer a class that you go to, it’s worth getting an idea of what the commute is like. A pleasant drive or picturesque walk will set the scene for your class.
Real-life classes have some additional benefits, too. An adult learning art class can be a fantastic way to meet new people, and you might choose a class for this very reason. Check out the facility hosting the class and the nearby location – a class in a lively part of town might give you more opportunity to socialise afterwards than one in a remote rural studio.
Some people feel that real-life classes offer a greater level of concentration, too. By physically going to a classroom, you make a space for yourself to learn and think. This can improve your sense of ‘flow’ in your making, which can have powerful wellness benefits.
If you choose to go virtual, you can access some really phenomenal resources. Firstly, consider what kind of dialogue you want with your tutor. You might be happy learning from online resources, which are great as you can access them however and whenever you like. Perhaps you’d like feedback from a tutor, for example by email? Or maybe you’d prefer to learn directly under their supervision on a video meeting?
Finally, research the tutors! Finding a well-qualified, competent tutor is great, and it’s even better to find one with these qualities that you also find inspiring and engaging! See if you can find their bio to get a sense of their interests, or a video to check if you like their delivery style. Look if there are any reviews of their classes.
Also check if the class you are interested in has one tutor throughout, or different tutors with different specialities.
Virtual classes have the benefit of offering access to some incredible tutors that would be very difficult to secure an in-person class with. For example, Masterclass hosts virtual classes by some tutors who are pioneers in their fields.
What do you want to learn?
Think about the experience level that you are at and the skill level that you want to achieve. You may have a very clear idea of what you want to learn in your art lessons, or you might have a broader approach, for example, a genre or a medium to explore, or simply wish to expand your creative horizons. It pays to be open-minded – a class that you take just for fun may give you fantastic, unexpected benefits in your primary art practice.
Whatever you choose, art history or an art theory class is always another great addition to your creative tool kit, giving you context and analytical skills that underpin your other activities.
What other benefits are there?
Don’t forget to check the fine details – there may be some additional features of the course that are really helpful to you. Perhaps there is a kids’ club, so you don’t need to worry about childcare. See if the course connects with any others. Does it build to a larger qualification? Maybe there are some study trips away that really interest you!
Starting a new art class is really exciting, and with a little bit of planning, you can give yourself the very best opportunity to fuel your passion.
Bright Eyes have opted to postpone several indoor shows of their first headline tour in a decade, which began on July 29 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The announcement came hours before the band’s performance at New York City’s Forest Hills Stadium, with a statement on their email newsletter reading (via Stereogum):
Due to the complications of managing a large touring party during a pandemic, Bright Eyes have made the difficult decision to postpone a handful of their indoor Summer 2021 shows. Over the past few weeks the band have joined the rest of the world in having to recalibrate and reassess their safety measures on an almost daily basis as new information is reported. The well being of the musicians, crew, friends and family on the road are of the utmost importance to them. Conor, Mike and Nate are aware that decisions they make for their traveling workplace have widespread repercussions for all immunocompromised family members within their touring party’s orbit and have therefore made the personal decision to postpone four shows during this time of unprecedented uncertainty. Bright Eyes will always prioritize the health and safety concerns of their touring team and are committed to providing a working environment everyone is comfortable with.
The affected dates are: New York City Terminal 5 on August 1st, Atlanta, Georgia The Eastern on August 6th & 7th and Birmingham, Alabama Sloss Furnaces on August 8th. Refunds at the point of purchase. Dates will be rescheduled as part of Bright Eyes 2022 touring, TBD. All other scheduled dates remain unchanged.
Earlier this month, Bright Eyes rescheduled their upcoming UK and European tour, now set to kick off in August 2022.
Are you an avid fan of the Counter-Strike franchise? Then you are probably familiar with the concept of skin selling or trading. There are many methods to buy and sell in-game items, both official and unofficial. To choose the right approach, you need to determine your own expectations in terms of privacy, safety, and pricing.
Skin selling is a useful skill, and you can find some great deals online. It also requires experience, time, and a reliable intermediary. Some exchanges allow you to get real money, while payments elsewhere are purely virtual. Which method is the best to sell CS:GO skins or buy some new gear? Find out in our guide.
Drawbacks of the Steam Marketplace
This platform is the default destination for players who want to exchange skins. It allows you to sell these items at no cost to any fellow user. The system is always available — 24/7. It is the biggest environment, so you have high odds of finding a counterparty for the transaction.
The official channel of Valve protects all of its users. It takes stringent measures to secure its operations. As the official marketplace, the system is safe, but it is not ideal. In fact, there are quite a few important limitations.
Real money may not be used.
Your revenue is only virtual, and it remains inside the Steam environment.
The only possible uses are the purchases of other skins or games.
The rationale behind the scheme is not clear. We can only suppose the brand had to comply with some stringent AML limitations. Apparently, they are designed to protect you against fraudulent activities on the Internet.
Real Money: DMarket
Some (but not all!) third-party solutions may be preferable to the official trading channel. For example, DMarket is a top-rated platform that connects millions of gamers and fans of eSports. Its members can buy and sell in-game items along with NFTs (non-fungible tokens).
The functionality is broad: you will find benefits in both the game tech and fintech dimensions, such as instant sale and circular exchange. The payment methods range from MasterCard to Neteller and Bitcoin. You can receive and send funds using popular debit and credit card systems, e-wallets, and even cryptocurrency.
So, What Should You Choose?
On the one hand, the official Steam platform is used by millions of fellow gamers, and it is also very secure. At the same time, your items may not earn any physical revenue — only virtual money for use in games. Sites like DMarket are a legit alternative. They may also help you find a seller or buyer, while the money flows are tangible. The payment system is also extremely flexible — you can even use cryptocurrencies!
Kanye West has announced he will be hosting a second listening event for his much-delayed album Donda. It’s set to take place on Thursday, August 5 – a day before the album’s official release date – at 9pm EST at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The listening party, dubbed Kanye West Presents The DONDA Album Release, was by confirmed entertainment group Live Nation, who made the announcement today (July 31). The event will feature creative direction by Balenciaga’s Demna Gvasalia. Tickets go on sale Monday, August 2 at 10am EST (3pm BST).
Kanye West previously premiered Donda at a sold-out listening event at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on July 22. The album was slated for release the following day, but no album materialized. Last week, it was revealed that the rapper had moved into the Mercedes-Benz Stadium to finish work on the record.
Skirts is the project of 26-year-old singer-songwriter Alex Montenegro, who started releasing music under the moniker in 2017. After a series of singles and an EP, the Dallas-born artist signed to Double Double Whammy for her debut record, Great Big Wild Oak, which is out today – a warm, finely crafted collection of songs that takes the intimacy of her lo-fi recordings and renders those personal experiences in rich detail, with subtle flourishes of synths, saxophone, banjo, flute, and clarinet adorning Montenegro’s gentle vocals. There’s a great comfort in how Montenegro, along with live band members Vincent Bui, Victor Bui, and Joshua Luttrull, have brought these songs to life, like watching time-lapse footage of flowers blooming. The effect is ultimately soothing, but there’s an intricate complexity at work that keeps things engaging: on the song ‘Easy’, the dreamy instrumentation mirrors the feeling of being enraptured by another person that Montegro evokes in her lyrics, inviting you into a moment of collective attention. Like its beautiful cover, the album not only captures but enhances the kind of stillness where the tiniest movement ripples through the frame – the kind you want to hold onto when the whole landscape seems to shift at an alarming rate.
We caught up with skirts’ Alex Montenegro for this edition of our Artist Spotlight interview series to talk about her musical journey, the inspirations behind Great Big Wild Oak, and more.
What was it like growing up in Dallas?
Nothing about it stood out to me – it just felt very normal, honestly. I always loved music, but I found comfort in music communities online, so I was online a lot growing up. But I started working at record stores when I was 19, so that kind of opened my whole view on Dallas.
Do you mind sharing some early memories of enjoying music?
My dad is a DJ, so I guess he’s the one that introduced me to music. I remember being a child and my dad teaching me how to put a needle on a record, you know, and that affected me my whole life. Every Saturday I would wake up super early to him just practicing, playing music next door, and that’s always left an impression on me; always being around DJ equipment with my dad and looking through his records.
When did you start playing music yourself?
I got my first guitar when I was about nine years old, and I just started learning how to play by ear. I watched that movie School of Rock, I remember after watching it that I begged my dad to buy me an electric guitar. I didn’t really get into writing songs until I was about 16, so it happened much later. I think I took one music lesson but it didn’t work out, so I just ended up teaching myself.
You mentioned discovering music communities online – did that come before you started immersing yourself in the local music scene?
I definitely feel like I met people making music like me online before I met people making music like me in Dallas. I never explored a Dallas scene because I didn’t know how to find it, and I guess I wasn’t really looking for it because I was so immersed in this online community of bedroom pop artists, just listening to their music and trying to find all these cool new artists I could listen to.
In another interview, you referenced flatsound as one of those artists that had an impact on you. And I was so glad to see that, because he’s not often cited as an influence despite being so integral to that lo-fi music community that flourished on places like Tumblr. I was wondering if you could elaborate on what resonated with you about that whole sound.
Mitch [Welling] of flatsound – his music was the first thing I ever heard like that that was lo-fi. I didn’t know what lo-fi was, I had never heard anything like it. And it was just so open and honest, and it was really cool that this person was recording this stuff at home by themselves and being incredibly succesful. It was inspiring just in the sense of, I can record at home as well, and I can try uploading my stuff online. It made me feel a little less scared to do that because anyone could do it. And Tumblr opened that whole world for me, which is maybe goofy, but it definitely did influence me, finding out about music on there.
In terms of songwriting, did it inspire you to be more open and honest when writing about how you were feeling?
Maybe it did like kind of say, like, you can write about personal things. You don’t have to be like Joanna Newsom, who I was really into at the time, who is writing all these incredibly complex lyrics. It’s very much poetry – even without the music, it stands alone. And I think for a while, I was under the impression that’s what good song lyrics were. And it definitely showed me, you know, there’s lots of other good ways of writing lyrics. It doesn’t necessarily have to be this complex, intricate, big essay.
Was there a specific moment when you started taking music more seriously?
I was 19, and I had released an EP called Almost Touching. And to my surprise, people started listening to it and commenting on it and buying it. I think I did like three different tape pressings, and I just had to keep making tapes. I feel like maybe I started taking myself a little bit more seriously once I did start playing local shows and touring.
There’s a line on ‘Swim’, “If a salmon can swim upstream then I can learn to swim,” that I read traces back to when you were a teenager. Could you talk about when that thought first struck you?
I used to write poems, I guess – and maybe it was bad poetry – but I remember writing a poem when I was about 17 or 18, and that that was the closing line of the poem. And I always wanted something more for that line, because for whatever reason, I really connected to it. And I tried throughout the years to put it into a song and like sneak it in there, but it never felt right until I was writing ‘Swim’ and I had like that last line to write for the song, and all of a sudden it just clicked. And yeah, it’s always just stuck with me – I can’t even remember what that poem was about. I can remember other lines from it that I feel like I’m also saving, just from that poem.
Were you always interested in connecting poetry and music in that way, or was there a time where you kind of separated the two?
I feel like maybe I started with being unable to separate them, and that maybe in part has something to do with how I felt about Joanna Newsom’s lyrics, and how I can read them and be incredibly touched and be like, “This is poetry.” But my own personal songwriting has felt less and less like a starting point from poetry, just because I feel like poetry is a skill that I lack. I’m not positive when that changed for me, but I don’t write poetry anymore. I’ll write thoughts that I have and, I don’t know, make it work in a melody or something.
When you started putting together your debut album, Great Big Wild Oak, what was on your mind when it came to figuring out what you wanted the project to represent?
I feel like the shift happened to me when we were done recording. I didn’t have an idea for the album until the songs were done, and even then I was like talking to my label and I still didn’t know my album title and I didn’t know my album art. I feel like I got a loose concept of what I wanted when I wrote one of the last songs for the album, which I wrote towards the end of recording where we had to record a last track, and it’s called ‘Sapling’. And that’s the song that I feel like subconsciously started linking everything together.
‘Sapling’ was an incredibly important song to me. I wrote it the day before my birthday, and I tend to struggle with my birthday, like a lot of people, and I think that song is just about feeling overwhelmed and this, like, lack of direction, and just trying to cope with moving forward despite feeling so bad. And in that song, there’s a line that’s like, “Another year has passed, and I don’t feel as old/ As it says on my license, until I am told/ That I have grown into a great big wild oak/ And I’ll always be a sapling to my mother.” Which ties also just to, as much as I try to grow, I feel like there is always a place that I come back to where I feel still like a child, you know. Like, “What am I doing, what’s going on?” It’s just a lot – like, feeling lost. And that’s where the album title came from, and it all just kind of rolled out after that.
I love how, in that song, you kind of go back and forth between setting a very specific scene and then zoning out with thoughts like, “I know someone’s rolling over in their grave/ They want to tell me I’m missing out on living.” Is that something that often happens to you when you’re in ordinary situations, where you’re hit by these almost existential questions? Or was it very much related to the fact that it was your birthday?
Yeah, I feel that it was a much bigger factor, where it was my birthday and I felt very upset. That line you just said specifically is about, like, the year before I had lost a really close friend of mine, Kevin, and I had also lost my aunt. And I was incredibly depressed. I was sort of just like, “Man, I’m just laying in my bed all day, and like, they’re not here anymore, and they would be incredibly upset probably if they were here and I had told them about this.” And that’s what that line is typically referring to. And yeah, it is common in the sense of like, I’m human and these thoughts happen and sometimes things get really hard, and it’s easy to fall in a swamp and feel sad. But the song is trying to find comfort in a crappy situation.
Do you feel like writing and recording that song has helped you come out the other end of that feeling?
Yeah, maybe to a certain point. I mean, I feel like you’ll always feel pain for losing a loved one, whether it’s through death or romantically, you know. And you can grow from it, but I feel like ultimately you’ll always carry that with you.
What was it like working with the rest of the band and seeing how the songs grew in their own way since you first wrote them?
It was really cool. I was so used to just doing everything on my own, and it was a lot of fun getting to work with my best friends and just make what it is now. At that point, it sort of becomes less about what I wrote, you know, and it’s like more of a technical thing of, you’re allowed to step outside of the lyrics and just have fun with it.
I wanted to ask you about the stunning photograph that graces the cover, which predates the album.Could you give a little bit of backstory as to how that came about?
I was in Mount Rainier National Park in Washington, just visiting a friend. And we went on this hike, and I always have a camera with me so I’m just taking pictures of everything with no intention, really, just to have it. And we get to this part of the trail, which is kind of like the peak point of the trail because you’re about to see Mount Rainer, and right aside from it is this beautiful pond, and I just see these people swimming in it. I was just like, “Wow, that’s so magical. I have to take a picture of this.” And when I got it developed, I was very surprised and just like, “I need to use this, I don’t know what I’ll use it for, but I’ll save it for later.” I never posted it, I just wanted to keep it saved if an opportunity ever came. And whenever the album was done, I was unsure about the album photo, and I remembered, like, “What about that photo?” And for a while, we were going to incorporate drawings on the photo, but I think the day before, even after we commissioned my friend to do it, I decided, “Let’s just go just the photo.” And yeah, I’m really happy with it.
Do you have other photographs that you’re proud of that you think you might use in the future?
At this moment, no. I’ve been really into Super 8, so I’ve been shooting a lot of that and saving that, but I put some of those clips in the ‘Always’ music video. I just went to Seattle again and went to Mount Rainier because we took limited polaroids for pre-orders, and I have a roll of film that I’m really excited to develop.
How did it feel going back there?
It was really surreal. My friends got to see what this picture everyone’s been like looking at and you just immediately know and you’re like, “Wow.”
Whether it be with lines and poetry or photographs that you don’t use right away, can you describe that feeling of finally being like, “Okay, I think this is a good time to put this out into the world”?
Yeah, it’s weird because I sort of forget about those things. It’s like I’m subconsciously holding on to them and I don’t even realise it, and there just comes a moment, like in ‘Swim’, where I was like, “If a salmon can swim upstream then I can learn to swim,” and it just made sense at that moment. There isn’t like a formula to it, I guess it just happens sometimes.
With the release of the album, do you still feel like you’re in that place where you still haven’t fully realized it yet?
A part of me is incredibly nervous for people to hear it, but another part of me – we’ve been working on it for so long that I’m just ready. And yeah, I have no idea how it’s gonna feel the day of. I’ve never released something like this. I can believe it, but it also does feel like a dream in a way.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
