Featuring former members and the primary writing core of Philadelphia hardcore mainstays All Else Failed, HOLD DOWN THE OCEAN is a powerhouse of a band. Channeling the energy and emotional intensity of their previous work into something wholly different, these scene veterans have crafted a beautiful, heavy, emotive post-hardcore record, so sweeping and epic in scope that it is at times reminiscent of early ’00s era post-rock. Head2Wall Records is about to release “Sidereal Month” EP, the digital-only follow up to Hold Down The Ocean’s 2018 debut LP, and today we’re stoked to give you their new track called The Gravity Of Things, along with the band’s special commentary below!
“‘The Gravity Of Things‘ is the intro to the ‘story’ of Sidereal Month” said guitarist/vocalist Patrick Shannon.
“The project was originally some odds and ends type songs that just developed into something we were super passionate about. There is an underlying theme to the songs, but it developed subconsciously, when I found that much of what I was writing was maybe rooted in deeper things that I wasn’t even really aware of. “Gravity” for example, is really about my fear of flying, but when I dug deeper, it was like, ‘ok is being scared of flying really a metaphor for other issues in my life?’ Then a “story” just grew out of that.”
“Sidereal Month” will be released exclusively on Hold Down The Ocean’s Bandcamp page (www.holddowntheocean.com) and streaming services this Friday, July 3rd, with a physical release to follow in the Fall, in conjunction with the “Sidereal Year” LP.
As a preface, we wrote this Press Release about a month ago, when the quarantine was still the most pressing thing on everyone’s mind. Clearly, a lot more has transpired since then. I wanted to mention that fact, so the following does not read as though it is blissfully ignorant of everything else happening in our country and around the world, and I want to state unequivocally that Hold Down The Ocean stands with and supports the plight of the protestors and that Black Lives Matter.
𝐼𝑛𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑡, ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟, 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑒’𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑒’𝑠 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑡. 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑡, 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑎 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑌𝑂𝑈 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛.
For us, a huge part of our lives is music, and the art of creating it and putting it out into the world. Sometimes it’s a big record that you tour on and that gets a bunch of exposure. Other times it might be a voice memo that someone adds a track to and it never goes too far. The process feels the same, though. The process is the beauty, and the act of putting music together with friends (beyond friends, actually- lifelong brothers) and putting it out into the world, speaking for myself, that is entirely what I live for. To add our collective voice and our collective vision to the chorus of the world’s musical soul is something that is a necessity for us, and being given the opportunity and the audience to do that is never something we never take for granted.
When the world went on lockdown, Hold Down The Ocean was about 75% through the recording process for 2 releases that were intended to come out around the same time, and that had intertwined themes. “Sidereal Month” is an EP of a few odds and ends type songs that spoke to us outside of our wheelhouse, and upon realizing that lyrically, a subconscious narrative had emerged, became a story unto itself. “Concept Album” is weird and not really applicable but for lack of a better term, it is a “concept” EP.
“𝑆𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑌𝑒𝑎𝑟” 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑃, 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑎𝑛 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑤𝑜.
The bad news is that our studio of choice being closed down put everything on an indefinite hold. The good news is that the EP, which was always intended to drop a little bit before the LP, was just about 100% done. One properly distanced vocal session and a mix down via gmail later, and “SiderealMonth” is complete.
SO, since there is no real timeline on when we will be able to finish the LP, and given that we have this impossible drive to put our music into the world, and with the blessing of our partners at Head2Wall Records, we are going to call an audible. “Sidereal Month” will be released on Friday, July 3rd exclusively on our bandcamp pages and digital streaming services. When life resumes, we will finish “Sidereal Year” for a proper vinyl release on H2W, and a combination CD release of the LP and the EP together will drop simultaneously. The target for that is the Fall, but as is the case with everything, that remains to be seen.
In the meantime, we are thrilled to be able to continue to put our art into the world, even if it isn’t quite the way we drew it up. We hope you like it, we hope it brings you some joy, and we hope you all stay safe, both physically and mentally, through the duration of these challenging days.
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