Category Archives: SOM

SOM Premiere “Wrong” Music Video

Posted by caemanamelio on

SOM have premiered a new video for their song “Wrong.” This track is from the band’s latest album “The Shape Of Everything.“

Will Benoit commented:

“On an album full of introspective songs, ‘Wrong‘ might be those ideas most crystallized. It’s about being a new parent, love, loss, finding the energy to put into the relationships that matter and the struggle to keep it all balanced. We didn’t plan to shoot this video, but it all came together while we were rehearsing for our upcoming tour when Alex [Pace, director] started swinging the camera around in such a way that it felt really immediate and visceral. The shoot couldn’t have come together more organically, and the video adds a real energy and immediacy that suits the song in such a perfect way.”

In other news, the group also have the following dates booked with Slow Crush:

05/10 Denver, CO – Hi Dive
05/11 Kansas City, MO – miniBar (feat. A Light Within & The Soiled Doves) (no Slow Crush)
05/12 Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry
05/13 Chicago, IL – Cobra Lounge
05/14 Indianapolis, IN – Hoosier Dome
05/15 Ferndale, MI – The Loving Touch
05/17 Columbus, OH – Big Room Bar
05/18 Cleveland, OH – Mahall’s
05/20 Toronto, ON – Monarch Tavern
05/21 Ottawa, ON – Club Saw (feat. Iceage & Wiki) (no Slow Crush)
05/22 Montreal, QC – Bar Le Ritz
05/23 Cambridge, MA – Middle East Upstairs (feat. Dreamtigers & The Burning Paris) (no Slow Crush)
05/24 Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore
05/25 Brooklyn, NY – Elsewhere (feat. Restless Spirit & Light Tower) (no Slow Crush)

[via Prog]

SOM Premiere “Center” Music Video

Posted by caemanamelio on

SOM have premiered a new video for their new song “Center.” This track is from the band’s new album “The Shape Of Everything,” which will be released on January 21.

Vocalist/guitarist Will Benoit commented:

“‘Center‘ was one of the first songs we worked on as a band remotely during lockdown. The vocals were originally written for another project that ultimately got shelved, but I really liked what I had come up with and couldn’t just leave them on a hard drive to die. The chorus has this anthemic, almost pop hook, but if you read the lyrics and look under the hood, the song is much darker. I love songs that present themselves one way on first listen, but can take you somewhere completely different the more you pay attention.

I felt like there was room on ‘The Shape Of Everything‘ to explore a slightly different tone like this one, but outside the vocals, I honestly had no vision for where it could be taken musically. So we tried an experiment: can the band write music around an existing vocal? Particularly in a time when we couldn’t all be in the same room anyway, it seemed like a good time to try out a different approach.

I sent the isolated vocal tracks to everyone on top of a simple drumbeat. [Guitarist] Joel [M. Reynolds] and [bassist] Justin [Forrest] went back and forth developing the instrumental melodies and dynamics until we settled on this big dirging riff that really only changes to make the verses drive harder. [Guitarist] Mike [Repasch-Nieves] added lush, drippy guitars over the top and brought the whole thing to life.

It took a lot of Zoom calls and sending files back and forth, which probably made this the most challenging song to finish on the album — both lyrically and musically — but it’s heavy, it’s pretty, and it accomplishes a lot of what I hope to accomplish with SOM all inside of a four-minute song.”

Director Samia Zaidi added:

“‘Center‘ was an extremely special song to respond to cinematically. The heavy and hopeful way it oscillates between these big sweeping melodies, deep digging rhythms, and these incredibly vulnerable vocals and lyrics, it wastes no time grabbing you by the heart and taking you on an epic journey.

It’s so human and relatable — we’ve all had these do-or-die moments when you find yourself pleading with loved ones or God or circumstance. It needed to be paired with something equally big, high stakes, and intimate. I knew immediately that this song was meant to pair with a love story, however the depth of the song required more complexity.

The cinematic approach was heavily inspired by the dynamism of the song itself. The narrative was based on a true story told with the blessing of the couple it was inspired by, plus a classic Bollywood film I loved growing up, and just a touch of Bonnie and Clyde. I wanted to share this story because it was grounded in a real-life example of how it’s not only possible to find the fields beyond our differences, but valuable to do so.

Given our modern reality where our variance is intentionally used to divide us instead of celebrated, I thought we could use a little hope. The human condition is universal. Love is universal.”

[via Revolver]

SOM Premiere “Animals” Music Video

Posted by caemanamelio on

SOM have premiered a new video for their new song “Animals.” This track is from the band’s new album “The Shape Of Everything,” which will be released on January 21.

Will Benoit commented:

“About halfway through the writing cycle for our new record, I woke up to an email from our guitar player Joel with an mp3 attached called ‘Animals‘. He sent it at like 3:00 or 4:00 am, so I knew he was excited to share something that he had obviously stayed up late working on. He was living in Richmond at the time, and this was during last year’s George Floyd protests, so he was front row watching monuments getting torn down and experiencing a real cultural shift. Later on, he said it was both horrible and inspiring.

I was pretty blown away by the demo. From the first note of that lonely, haunting guitar intro all the way through the heightened tension of the instrumental outro — that was all in his original version, and it felt like lightning in a bottle that I had to dig in on immediately. I remember I was running errands all morning, and in the car, I was bouncing back and forth between listening to the demo and recording voice memos of all the vocal melodies on my phone. By 11:00am I had the chorus lyrics and harmonies worked out and by 2:00pm I was back in the studio and had all the vocals recorded pretty close to how they are on the album.”

“The Shape Of Everything” Track Listing:

01. “Moment”
02. “Animals”
03. “Center”
04. “Shape”
05. “Clocks”
06. “Wrong”
07. “Heart Attack”
08. “Son Of Winter”

In other news, the group will also be joining Katatonia and Sólstafir on a European/UK tour next year:

01/21 Tampere, FIN – Tullikamari
01/22 Helsinki, FIN – Kulttuuritalo
01/23 Tallinn, EST – Helitehas
01/25 Warsaw, POL – Stodola
01/26 Berlin, GER – Huxleys
01/27 Stuttgart, GER – Longhorn
01/28 Frankfurt, GER – Batschkapp
01/29 Prague, CZE – Roxy
01/30 Vienna, AUT – Arena
02/01 Budapest, HUN – Akvarium Klub
02/02 Munich, GER – Backstage Werk
02/03 Zurich, Komplex 457
02/04 Milan, ITA – Live Club
02/05 Lyon, FRA – Ninkasi Kao
02/07 Madrid, SPA – Kapital
02/08 Barcelona, SPA – Apolo
02/09 Toulouse, FRA – Metronum
02/11 London, UK – O2 Forum Kentish Town
02/12 Manchester, UK – O2 Ritz
02/13 Bristol, UK – SWX
02/14 Glasgow, UK – Garage
02/15 Wolverhampton, UK – KK’s Steelmill
02/17 Luxembourg, LUX – Rockhal
02/18 Haarlem, NET – Patronaat
02/19 Cologne, GER – Essigfabrik
02/20 Paris, FRA – Trianon
02/22 Antwerp, BEL – Trix
02/23 Hamburg, GER – Gruenspan
02/24 Copenhagen, DEN – Amager Bio
02/25 Oslo, NOR – Rockefeller
02/26 Stockholm, SWE – Fållan

SOM (Caspian, Etc.) Share Video For Holy Fawn’s Remix Of “Awake // Sedate”

Posted by caemanamelio on

SOM (Caspian, ex-Junius, etc.) have shared a new video for Holy Fawn’s remix of their song “Awake // Sedate.” This track is from the band’s new EP “Awake,” which will be released tomorrow (March 5). Holy Fawn’s Ryan Osterman commented:

“We met when we got to tour with Som on the O’Brother tour and just instantly hit it off. We were enamored with their kindness and with how utterly massive these guys were able to sound live. When I got the opportunity to remix one of the new songs I instantly wanted to jump on it. I heard ‘Awake // Sedate’ and immediately had gears turning with how I might approach the song in a way that (hopefully) honored it while giving it some sort of HF gloom or what have you. I felt this kind of emotional paralysis / Cotard’s syndrome when Will was singing and just wanted to create something to capture that isolation.”

[via MetalSucks]

SOM (Caspian, Etc.) Premiere “Youth // Decay” Video

Posted by caemanamelio on

SOM (Caspian, ex-Junius, etc.) have premiered a new video for their new song “Youth // Decay.” This track is from the band’s new EP “Awake,” which will be released on March 5.

Will Benoit told Revolver the following:

“Before the first SOM record was done, Mike [Repasch-Nieves] and I were both feeling creatively and musically adrift. We got together for a couple days, recording ambient guitar and synths over glitchy beats in an attempt to change things up. Two years later when Mike and Joel joined the band, I edited some of Mike‘s demo parts from that session to form the main melodies in ‘Youth // Decay.’ I arranged the chords and vocals, and brought it to the group. During quarantine, we all passed the demo back and forth. Slowly, this minimal, sparse piece of music grew into a dynamic, crushing song that is also the first track we finished as a five-piece.”

Repasch-Nieves added:

“Similarly, the video started as a short film that my friend and long-time colleague, director Adam Patch, had been working on. As soon as we finished the song, I knew it would be perfect for this, lyrically and thematically. We shared the song and footage with editor Samia Zaidi, who also directed our recent video for ‘Awake // Sedate.’ She took it and really brought everything into focus. It was quite serendipitous how it all came together in this way.”

SOM (Caspian, Etc.) Premiere “Awake // Sedate” Music Video

Posted by caemanamelio on

SOM (Caspian, ex-Junius, etc.) have premiered a new video for their new song “Awake // Sedate.” This track is from the band’s new EP “Awake,” which will be released on March 5. Here’s the full track listing for that effort:

01. “Awake // Sedate”
02. “Youth // Decay”
03. “Awake // Sedate” (Holy Fawn remix)
04. “Youth // Decay” (hisself remix)
05. “Open Wounds” (U DYE remix)
06. “Prayers” (Giuseppe Capolupo remix)