Denver, Colorado’s Fainting Dreams proudly launch their brand new full-length album The Silence of Birds That Rarely Sing. The album was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Jared Barnes at Swadley Studios.
Listen to the album here:
Vocalist/guitarist Elle Reynolds shares his thoughts:
“I had been thinking for a while about writing an album that flowed together as one cohesive piece with various movements, and after becoming enamored with the live session for Sugar Horse’s ‘Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico,’ I knew that was the direction I’d wanted to take. We wanted to split the songs up into three movements for the sake of some accessibility but still create a thoroughly seamless and uninterrupted listening experience, both musically and thematically for people listening from front to back.
“Lyrically, the EP starts out focused on issues specific to my own struggles, then branches out into the intersectionality of people’s issues everywhere before finally coming to focus on the broad and truly unavoidable issue of climate crisis. Musically, after taking such a minimalist approach with ‘You Can Be Anything,’ I was very excited to lean back into a much more dense and dynamic style of writing for this EP, especially since our lineup had expanded to include a second guitarist and a new drummer who are big fans of blackgaze and screamo.
“’I’ is based around my experiences with Multiple Sclerosis and struggles fighting against an apathetic medical system to receive a diagnosis, as well as a largely apathetic world at large. When you’re dealing with unexplained illness that has such a profound effect on your daily life, it’s only a matter of time before a large number of people in your life begin to lose patience and drift away, which is a very scary feeling, especially at first.
“It’s also about witnessing the devastation my wife experienced as they lost their grandmother to medical negligence. I brought some ideas to the band and knew I wanted the song to build from a feeling of melancholy into anger, but this was the first time we wrote most of a song all together in the room, which I think encouraged us to step into some new territory. We really wanted this song to have a skramz/black metal feel while still leaning into the spaciousness that’s always been so central to our sound.
“’II’ was a vocal idea I’d written a few years back tried to write instrumentals for but nothing ever clicked, so it felt like a perfect quiet point to have in the middle of the record. I was listening to a lot of Swans and Sprain around this time, which are, of course, two very uncompromising bands, and it became clear we had to channel that energy if we wanted to sonically match the content of the lyrics. We wanted it to start off feeling like a calm before the storm and then slowly build into a discordant mass of nauseating drones. This section of the EP is lyrically inspired by the poem ‘First They Came’ by Martin Niemöller and focuses on how when you ignore the persecution and suffering of those more marginalized than you, it’s only a matter of time before things come crashing down for you too.
“’III’ is the last track and begins after such a long, intense buildup so we really felt like it had to be as monstrous as possible. Even throughout the softer parts in the middle, we still tried to keep some sort of dissonance going almost the whole time. This was also the only song on the record where the vocals took a backseat during the writing process, which allowed us to be really intentional with lots of jarring transitions and odd time signatures. Lyrically, this song was about letting myself express feelings of hopelessness around climate change and direct my anger towards those in power who think they’re safe from environmental collapse.
“Our bassist/cellist Frankie handles all of our art, it’s so wonderful to be able to keep everything in house and work with someone who we know will always properly understand and communicate our visions. Living in Colorado, wildfires are very prevalent, and when the sun is obscured by smoke, it often creates an eerie pink sun, so Frankie decided to borrow the same pink hue from our previous albums and use this as the only color featured in the album art. Birds are a frequent focus in Frankie’s art, so it was also an obvious decision to incorporate birds into the album cover based on the title which is a quote from one of my favorite dystopian novels, ‘The Unworthy’ by Augustina Bazterrica.”
“Musically, after taking such a minimalist approach with ‘You Can Be Anything,’ I was very excited to lean back into a much more dense and dynamic style of writing for this EP, especially since our lineup had expanded to include a second guitarist and a new drummer who are big fans of blackgaze and screamo.”
The band are also set to perform on a release show on Saturday May 30. The venue will be at an all ages Denver DIY spot which is called Ante Up. The lineup will also feature Pathos and Logos, Oyarsa, and Sungrave. Doors are open at 7:30.
Fainting Dreams:
Elle Reynolds: lyrics, composition, vocals, guitar
Francys Andros: bass, vocals, cello
Jared Barnes: guitar
Mathew Meyer: drums, synth
Follow Fainting Dreams on Instagram.
Photo courtesy of Fainting Dreams
