Starting October 25th, post-hardcore rockers Native Suns are promising to release a new demo every Tuesday for the rest of 2016. The tracks were written at various points over the past few years, which should provide fans a fairly comprehensive look at how the group has evolved as a songwriting unit in that time. However, if you’re interested in understanding what avenues the band is currently exploring and where the group may be headed creatively in the near future, look no further than their new standalone single, “Envelop Me (The Artist and The Muse).”
Recorded by Jason Andrews at Spotlight Sound Studios, the track melds ethereal emo stylings with spacey prog-rock explorations that never meander into self-indulgence. It’s a dense, multi-layered affair, but everything the band throws at you — the lush ambience and stratospheric guitar lines, the sinewy grooves and moody vocals — is used in service of the song. In recent months, Native Suns has withdrawn from playing shows to focus on writing new material, and the result of that commitment is one of their most polished and expansive songs to date.
Still, for all its majesty, you can’t help but feel a certain gloom in the background, a hovering shadow lurking in the corner. Although you can’t avoid the track’s sweeping upward trajectory, you also can’t escape the sensation that rather than being lifted out of an impenetrable darkness your are being pulled inexorably towards some higher power. In either case, the action is that same — you are being lifted up — but it’s the difference between staring at the oncoming light above or looking downwards from whence you came. If that seems like a strange distinction to make, consider what vocalist Austin McAuley had to say about the track:
“‘Envelope Me’ was written during a very dark time for us as a band. We were unsure of our future together, life was not going the way any of us wanted and everyone felt defeated by a series of events and circumstances that were out of our control. But this song was forged from all of that frustration and uncertainty, silently acknowledged as a beacon of hope. After its conception, we continued to move forward with writing more material and setting our sights on the future.”
Listen below.
More Info
Bandcamp: nativesunsmusic.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @NativeSuns
Instagram: @NativeSuns
Twitter: @NativeSuns
YouTube: youtube.com/nativesunsband