Atmospheric rock outfit SOM – comprised of current and former members of Constants, Junius, and Grammy nominees Caspian – will release their anticipated Awake EP this Friday! In advance of its official unveiling, the band is pleased to reveal a video for “Awake // Sedate,” remixed by Holy Fawn, now playing at MetalSucks.
Notes Holy Fawn’s Ryan Osterman of the track, “We met when we got to tour with SOM on the O’Brother tour and just instantly hit it off. We were enamored with their kindness and with how utterly massive these guys were able to sound live. When I got the opportunity to remix one of the new songs, I instantly wanted to jump on it. I heard ‘Awake // Sedate’ and immediately had gears turning with how I might approach the song in a way that (hopefully) honored it while giving it some sort of Holy Fawn gloom or what have you. I felt this kind of emotional paralysis / Cotard’s Syndrome when [vocalist/guitarist] Will [Benoit] was singing and just wanted to create something to capture that isolation.”
Adds MetalSucks, “The remix takes the core of the original and flips it on its head, swapping a subtle electronic backbeat, atmospheric synth effects and washed out vocals for the hard-hitting drums and guitars and more present vocals in the original. In short, it makes the perfect companion piece.”
View SOM’s “Awake // Sedate” (Holy Fawn Remix) video, playing at MetalSucks at THIS LOCATION.
View the band’s previously released video for opening track, “Awake // Sedate,” HERE, “Youth // Decay” HERE, and their set at Metal Injection’s February edition of Slay At Home Fest HERE.
Combining two exclusive originals with remixes by beloved collaborators Holy Fawn, Hisself (Johnny Dang of O’Brother), U Dye (Marshall Gallagher of Teenage Wrist), and Giuseppe Capolupo (The Devil Wears Prada), Awake is a triumph of self-described “heavy dream pop.” Its concise compositions balance the gritty riffs of Deftones with airy, Tame Impala-esque vocal lines, just as primed for rock radio success as they are for shoegaze-loving connoisseurs.
Awake will be released independently on limited-edition cassette and digitally via Nuclear Blast’s digital subsidiary, Blood Blast Distribution, on March 5th. Find preorders at THIS LOCATION. CD and vinyl editions of Awake will be released by Pelagic Records March 12th with preorders now available at THIS LOCATION.
SOM was founded by Duncan Rich, frontman and former Constants colleague Will Benoit, and Adai founder and now-Caspian drummer Justin Forrest. While touring in support of their debut full-length The Fall in 2019, the band added guitarists Mike Repasch-Nieves and Joel M. Reynolds, both formerly of Junius and Driftoff. “We’ve always been a musical family,” notes Rich.
“Will and I started a label, Radar Recordings, in Boston during the early 2000s, which was an amazing time and place for music,” says Repasch-Nieves. “It was very much a collective of like-minded artists, which grew as we all toured around the world together in the years to follow.” Awake however is far from the five longtime friends’ only endeavor to create a better world around them. Despite being recorded in quarantine, the EP was mixed by Benoit at his own Radar Studio in Connecticut – New England’s first solar-powered recording facility. Repasch-Nieves and Reynolds, meanwhile, spent 2020 sustaining an urban farm in New York City, while Forrest distributed vegan food to Black Lives Matter activists in Denver through the Summer. Equally philanthropic is Rich, who now uses his production experience to host emotional fluency events for men. While many musicians lumbered in inactivity, SOM used the darkness of recent times to create and heal. The tracks on Awake are part of SOM’s ongoing mission to “leave this place better than we found it.” Awake’s bliss is an insight not only into the kind of harmony the quintet seeks to cultivate in all facets of life, but also the exciting second full-length that looms on the horizon.
“SOM… specialize in a gauzy, feedback-soaked sound… It’s not far flung from the output of high-volume shoegazers such as Deftones or Hum.” – Revolver
“…thick and hazy but with soaring vocal harmonies that add a lightness to the song.” – BrooklynVegan on “Awake // Sedate”
“SOM play the kind of somber, glimmering music that exudes a heavy fog of emotion and introspection around it.” – Kerrang!
“Awake [offers] something for every fan of the band while exploring new facets of SOM’s musical identity in the process.” – Rock And Roll Fables
SOM:
Will Benoit – vocals, guitars
Justin Forrest – bass
Mike Repasch-Nieves – guitars
Joel M. Reynolds – guitars
Duncan Rich – drums
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