Search

Week in Pop: Alpenglow, Arms & Sleepers, R. Stevie Moore

Post Author:

FVNERALS

Glasgow's FVNERALS; press photo courtesy of the band.
Glasgow’s FVNERALS; press photo courtesy of the band.

Glasgow’s FVNERALS just released their album Wounds today (via Golden Antenna Records EU / The Native Sound stateside) and we give you a listen to the goth cathedral interiors & atmospheres that abound, complete with a track-by-track break down from the band.

“Void” sets the tone & mood as you enter the Glasgow trio’s citadel of sound. The title track burns slowly like a mourning candle, as “Shiver” creates a sense of church organ sanctuary from the outside threat of the surrounding winter cold. “Teeth” gnashes with a devotional sense, where “Crown” feels as if you are being privy to a coronation made in secret. “Antlers” is the sound of uncovering some kind of spell that would have been better kept under wraps, while the closing epic “Where” will have you holding on to every echoing key as you ponder what directions Tiffany, Syd & Chris will take next. Read their exclusive notes on each track off Wounds immediately after the following listen.

Wounds track-by-track courtesy of FVNERALS:

We wrote the album as a way to deal with our personal demons, our every day struggle with chronic depression, isolation, lethargy and anxiety. We tried to build “Wounds” as a journey through existence, tainted by sadness, each song building to the next while keeping its own emotional catharsis.

Writing this album brought a lot of emotions out of the both of us, which made it quite difficult and overwhelming at times but probably also added an emotional heaviness and bleak fragility to the songs.
We wrote a lot of material but only kept what we felt benefited the album as a whole rather than making a collection of individual tracks.

“Void”

This is the opening track of the album and I wanted to create something quite ritualistic and cinematic. We used maracas rattle seed shaker, deep drones and bowed guitars to build tension, like being sucked in a deep hole leading to the second track. -Syd

“Wounds”

“Wounds” is a song about feeling trapped in your own body and mind, about becoming so introvert that you feel completely disconnected and powerless as you watch time go by, like a distant spectator of your own life. -Tiffany

“Shiver”

When we wrote the song I was trying to build a strong contrast, going from an elegiac monotone opening to a thundering descent into hopelessness. Tiffany wrote lyrics about the loss of someone close, their omnipresence and being unable to move on.

As a result, Shiver is sort of our idea of a musical representation of the various emotions and confusion associated with unresolved grief. -Syd

“Teeth”

“Teeth” is probably the closest to a love song on the album. It’s about the multiple contrasts of love, being with someone but still feeling lonely. -Tiffany

“Crown”

The lyrics for this song revolve around dealing with feelings of pressure. The pressures other people put on you and the ones you put on yourself, like being weighted down by what’s expected of you, not being able to live up to it. -Tiffany

“Antlers”

“Antlers” is about the world coming apart, a cry for help and longing for inner peace. Like being stuck in a bad dream, not knowing how to get out from it. I think the song in itself represent chaos for me, a fight with my inner self and and the world we live in. – Tiffany

“Where”

Where is about how everything living is slowly dying, the anxiousness of knowing you will lose everything you love and will most likely disappear without leaving a trace. – Tiffany
Originally the track was written on guitars only. The last day of recording while tracking the guitars I messed around with a piano with the idea of doing a second version, like a B-side, but when I played it to Tiffany we decided to use this version instead, we thought it felt more powerful and completed the vocals better. -Syd