It’s been three years since we’ve heard new music from Joshua Washburn’s psychedelic drone folk project Dear Woodland Creatures, and while a good deal of that delay can be explained by the chaos and everyday distractions of life and living, much of it had to do with the painstaking process Washburn put himself through to compose his upcoming LP, Old Blood. “There are times on this record where I’m layering a dozen or more different instruments and I didn’t want to treat of any of them as an afterthought,” he explains via email. “Finding space for everything you hear in your brain while also going through the self-regulated process of killing your darlings and refining your ideas has turned out to be a challenge that’s taken three years to get to a place where I’m happy with it.”
In addition to employing far more tones and textures, Washburn sought to create a much heavier album this go around, both in terms of its hefty sonics and solemn themes. Lead track and first single “The Angle of Eternity” was the first track written for Old Blood, and its brooding ambience places it somewhere between Emma Ruth Rundle’s shadow-draped drones and the apocalyptic folk rock of Dax Riggs. Driven forward by a grungy, blues-indebted riff and pensive vocals, the song’s slow-building motion pulls the listener in and submerges them in cavernous gloom. Yet, despite its plodding, dirge-like movement and gray atmosphere, there’s something cathartic and uplifting about the track, a primal energy that taps into a more universal vision than what might appear on the surface.
“This song deals with the main themes that became what Old Blood is all about—meditations on aging, on death, and on immortality through the legacy we leave behind,” says Washburn. “Those are ideas that feel both very personal and very relatable at the same time, and, as such, it became the natural choice for the introduction to Old Blood as a whole. My hope is that sense of longing and empathy translates and sets the listener up for the journey that follows.”
Listen below.
Old Blood is out Nov. 10. Pre-orders are available here.
Dear Woodland Creatures will celebrate the release of Old Blood at the Captive Art Party on Sat., Nov. 10 at the Bakery. Also performing will be Dead Register (Release Show). Photographer Emily Harris will curate an artists’ gallery and market. Doors open at 7 p.m.
More Info
Web: dearwoodlandcreatures.com
Bandcamp: dearwoodlandcreatures.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @dearwoodlandcreatures
Instagram: @dearwoodlandcreatures
SoundCloud: @dearwoodlandcreatures