EPK – Sun Below – Self-Titled (2021)

BAND STORY ANGLES / FUN FACTS:

1. The band formed after a chance reply to a Kiji ad for a drummer seeking a band. Not sure how many success stories there are from meeting anyone in person through Kijiji, but this is one!

2. The new album was not originally intended to have a loose concept throughout, however, after analyzing our existing material during rehearsal sessions we realized we could piece a narrative together based on the themes that run throughout our music. The idea of revisiting the character of the Holy Drifter and expanding upon his story caused us to “drift” down the rabbit hole of smoke, visions, alternate realities and time travel paradoxes. It was fun to recontextualize some of our older songs and give them new meaning within the story.

3. The band has (we believe) coined several terms of our own. While many bands identify themselves as stoner rock or stoner metal, we believe we are the first to have narrowed our sub-genre down to a specific strain: sativa rock. This is to reflect our style of stoner/doom where the energy in the music remains consistent and demands your attention and engagement throughout. We also stumbled on the term “dooman”, essentially a doom human, a person living a simple life driven by fuzz and earth cracking volume. Lastly, the song title Chronwall Neanderthal came about while driving to a gig in Montreal from the GTA and passing Cornwall. We started spit balling titles for a new song we were to debut that night, and Cornwall became Chronwall which would eventually become the mountain range depicted on our album cover.

The album as a whole explained by the band (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):

The album is a journey through time, space, and the limits of sonic power. Musically, it combines fuzzed-out grooves, punishing volume, and moments of spaced-out clarity which make for a fully immersive journey. With a run time of well over an hour, the album is meant to transport the listener across worlds and time, while traversing a vast landscape of heavy sounds. Lyrically, the album focuses on the Holy Drifter, his quest to discover higher meaning within visions that haunt and excite him, and his greater role in the cosmic balance of the universe. He, and the ancient herb which influences his mind, are thrust to the center of a time travel paradox that crosses realities as the sun burns low. Prepare to tune down, smoke up, play loud, and burn out.

Track by Track explained by the band:

1. CHRONWALL NEANDERTHAL: Thousands of years in the past, a dooman neanderthal and his kin reside in a valley surrounded by a vast moutain range known as the “Chronwall”. The looming stone peaks provide a natural defence against rival groups. In the valley grows a strange and potent herb, which over time the neanderthal learns to harvest. Once consumed, the strain ignites and stimualtes his ancient mind, and the group learns to harnesh the power of flame. Many enemies attempt to scale the Chronwall to take the fire and herb for themselves, but none are successful.

2. HOLY DRIFTER: Thousands of years later in the current day, a ragged wanderer known as the Holy Drifter resides in a mountian shrine within the Chronwall. Lured there by his erractic visions and the pull of the ancient herb, the Drifter has withdrawn from society after failed attempts to share his gift of sight to the masses. As the Drifter searches for the higher meaning within his visions, he is forced to seek out further stores of the ancient herb.

3. SHIVA SATIVA: Shiva, a solar deity which transcends time, bestows upon the earth a sacred sativa strain.

4. GREEN VISIONS: In the not too distant past, an uninitiated mind breathes deep of the ancient herb, and experiences visions which enlighten and disturb. Alternate futures and realities are revealed, as is a premonition of the sun drowning in a reflection of a green sky. Lacking the understanding to make sense of the experience, this fertile mind begins a journey down the holy path.

5. BONG PSALM: A pause in time for reflection and to stoke the visions.

6. KINETIC KIEF:
Running low on the strain, the current day Drifter begins smoking his stores of kief built up over the years. The Kief, already having been used in the Drifter’s rituals, is uniqiuely wired to elicit a kinetic energy which puts the Drifter more in tune with his surroundings. Realizing that his location within the Chronwall’s mountain shrine is no coincidence, he begins preparations for a decisive ritual.

7. DOOM STICK: The ancient staff once carried by the Chronwall elders of old has found its way through the centuries into the grasp of the drifter.

8. TWIN WORLDS I & II: Having grown frustrated over the years with his inability to understand his fleeting visions and harness his power, the Drifter gathers his remaining stash and scales the Chronwall to its highest peak. Commencing the ritual, the drifter levitates as he inhales deeply. A rupture forms in the sky above and a void appears. Within, the Drifter sees an ageless man floating amongst billowing smoke. Before he can question what he is seeing, a telepathic link is established and it is reveled that the man through the void is himself, many years later in an alternate future timeline. In the future Drifter’s world, the sun is burning low and is threatening to burnout entirely. In a desperte attempt to warn his past self of the impending doom both of these twin worlds face, the simaltaneous rituals have opened a passage in time. Through their mental link, the main timeline drifter learns that his future counterpart has done little to hone his gifts over time and has waited too long to act to save his world, despite having lived to an age beyond human limits. While shifting between timelines, the future drifter bestows seeds of a future timeline strain of the ancient herb our drifter has been seeking, which will amplify his abilities. However, as the future drifter struggles to keep the connection between worlds, some of the seeds travel further back in time then he intended, and land in the Chronwall valley of the distant past. The future drifter breathes deep one final time as the void closes.

9. SOLAR BURNOUT: In the alternate future timeline, the Sun finally burns out and implodes into itself. The result of the implosion is a massively expanding black hole which begins to consume all of the surrounding planets and stars. With the black hole threatening to engulf the earth, ships take flight for new green horizons. As the ships depart for deep space, the power of the void proves too much and pulls them across the event horizon where even light itself cannot escape.

EPILOGUE:
Following the closing of the album/story, the future timeline earth is consumed by the void. It is not clear exactly what the fate of the future drifter is. The current timeline drifter begins to plant the future seeds of the potent herb. Thousands of years in the past, the seeds that got away from the future drifter germinate and are discovered by the ancient neanderthals.

As the seeds planted by the current timeline drifter grow into plants and are harvested, the Drifter experiences a new level of potency, which causes him to retreat further into his shrine and his visions, while winged shapes take flight and circle the Chronwall against an increasingly hazy sky. The sun burns increasingly bright as if the future herb is pulling kinetic energy directly out of it. The Drifter’s future is left hazy as well; many questions remain as he navigates the smoke stream of time and space.