Someday is out now!
Image: Maclay Heriot.
Australian four-piece Dear Seattle have today delivered their long-awaited sophomore album, Someday. To celebrate the release, frontman Brae Fisher is taking MILKY through the release, track by track!
The genre-melding release furthers the development of sound explored within the albums singles, leaning into more a more considered and mature sonic exploration. Riotous guitars flow throughout, juxtaposed by glistening piano melodies and synth work unfurling beneath Fisher's dynamic performance that darts between biting and vulnerable vocals. Exploring a trove of emotions, the four-piece tackle themes of love, mental health and living in the moment.
The trio will host free BBQ event setting up the barbie at Corner Hotel Carpark in Melbourne on September 2, Crowbar in Sydney on September 3 and The Brightside in Brisbane on September 4. Fans will also be treated to an acoustic performance from the band, with merchandise available to purchase. The band will then embark on a national tour, kicking off in Adelaide on September 23. The run of shows will continue on to Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne, before wrapping up in Sydney on October 14. Tickets are on sale now!
HOME: Trepidation/Connectedness
Home reflects on all that I have been through in the past, namely the era of Don’t Let Go. It acknowledges how far I’ve come mentally, finding myself at a point now where I actually miss home rather than always wishing I was anywhere but. It’s about the moment you start to feel a deep draw to the place you live, but realise that a connectedness to one place brings up a whole new set of issues. Homesickness, escapism and never really feeling content where you are unless it's at home. I started to realise that the distance of being away may ruin all that I have at home; like I’ve pushed past one problem but somehow created another.
IN MY HEAD: Disingenuous/Insincerity
In My Head is about stepping back into the real world after a period of isolation and deep self-exploration. It feels like you’re walking around like a spectator to your own life, feeling foggy and foreign being in the shared world instead of your own head for a change. You're still completely focused on what is actually going on in your head and only just scraping by in conversations with mindless small talk in an attempt to fit in. You feel disconnected from conversations you’re in, like you’re simply watching it unfold, and you start to realise how absurd this whole experience is and how much we rely on falsehoods and social etiquettes to get by. You think the people around you are too absorbed in their own shit to actually care about yours, but realise you’re doing the exact same thing to them.
WAY OUT: Escapism/Miscommunication
Way Out is centred around the fear that your own mental state is becoming burdensome to those around you. Instead of discussing the way I felt and purging what was weighing me down, I had a tendency of bottling things up, especially if I knew it was something that might hurt the other person. I’d choose to hold onto things I should’ve been releasing, choosing closer connections when I really needed space, and avoiding asking for help when I really needed it. It’s about looking to escape certain feelings and situations rather than expressing and exploring them. It’s about making peace with the fact that bringing up harsher truths make them real, but living in fantasy will only make them worse.
HERE TO STAY: Oblivious/Determination
Here To Stay grapples with inner turmoil, growing self-doubt and compulsive indecision. When I was younger, I never doubted myself. It felt like I had a superpower, like if I set my mind to something and really worked for it, I could somehow always get to where I wanted to be. My brother even used to say that I “walked in the light” because of it. But the last few years have been tough, and I can feel the time slowly chipping away at that confidence. I’ve started to feel the cracks of analysis paralysis creeping in and a tendency to feel like I’ve got nothing left of value to offer.
As a musician or a creative, it's so easy to feel like what you’re doing doesn’t matter or isn’t worthy of appreciation or that your love of being creative is consistently clouded by bullshit like social media and the habitual comparison of yourself to others. It happens to everyone, and it can make you want to give it all up. But I’ve since learnt that if you stop focussing on the ever-moving goalposts, you set for yourself and take the time to look back at what you’ve really achieved and what you get to spend your time doing as an artist, you’ll see the true value of it all. It’s easy to miss it in the moment, but it’s always there… the passion, the drive, the inspiration, the love, the friendships and the purest form of joy.
FEEL THE WEIGHT: Expectation/Pressure
Overall, Feel The Weight tackles the concept of internalised pressures and the unattainable expectations and standards I set for myself. Since my Dad passed at an early age, I’ve only ever been told stories of how great a person he was, which I used to love growing up, but as an adult have come to learn how it has impacted me in a negative way. It meant that I had developed this Godlike interpretation of who he was in my head, a standard I always strove to achieve, but one so high I would never reach it. It led me to become incredibly self-critical and people-pleaser in situations where I should’ve stood up for myself. For example, while I was writing this song I couldn’t help thinking to myself, “I just need to give people another Daytime TV because that’s what they want”, without thinking about what I wanted. It’s a mindset I never wanted to find myself in, especially when I was writing, but that’s where I had ended up. Instead of scrapping the singalong chorus, I felt there was a deeper story to be told by keeping it in, as a signifier of the repetitive struggle of dealing with internalised pressure and a tendency to people please, written in a way that acknowledges and vilifies that way of thinking.
Watch our interview with Brae Fisher of Dear Seattle above!
IRRETRIEVABLE: Repetition/Edification
Irretrievable depicts the cyclical loops of mental illness and the power of becoming aware of the habitual thought patterns. I have a tendency of forgetting to be proud of my achievements, creating ever-changing goalposts for myself and never quite feeling satisfied with what I have done. It got to the point where I would come off stage after playing to thousands of people and feel like I wasn’t even there, like it hadn’t even happened because I wasn’t present at the time taking it all in. I began forcing myself to pick a point in every set to take 3 deep breaths and scan the crowd, to take in exactly what we were doing and what we have achieved, and it changed my outlook drastically. Mental health is always an ongoing process, but instead of feeling defeated every time we fall back into a negative headspace after coming so far, it's so important to remember that each near miss helps you tackle it next time. That’s what Irretrievable is all about, being present enough to see situations for what they are so you can bring the goalposts a bit closer, so the next goal doesn’t seem so unattainable. It’s all about small steps instead of big leaps.
ASIDE AGAIN: Introspection/Experimentation
Aside Again is a self-reflective acknowledgement that, as an artist, I have this belief that I have pigeon-holed myself as a songwriter who only writes sad songs - when in fact I want to write music that is uplifting, inspiring introspection and aspiration. I want to start exploring the parts of my emotions I find most interesting beyond despondency. It seems so simple, but the associated fear that arises in doing so is quite immense, but that’s something I want to overcome. I want my words to inspire and aid others, not help them wallow in similar sadnesses. I want to feel that gratification of using my story to help other people.
PARANOID LETTER: Expectations/Vulnerability
Paranoid Letter is a snapshot of the moment you realise you might be suffering from depression, and noticing the natural urge to put on a brave facade and try to suppress it rather than showing people you’re breaking. All of the questions run through your head, saying that you can’t be depressed cos you don’t cry, or don’t lock yourself in your room, or because your life is great on paper, and the pressure that ultimately mounts on you over time as you try to dismiss the issue instead of tackling it head on. It’s about me learning that depression is its own beast for everyone and you have to explore what yours is and how to tame it. For me it was that I had lost my passion to write, as music industry fodder had clouded my brain to the point where I forgot that I always had to write for myself first and foremost. This meant I had no outlet and I had lost my most treasured form of expression to thoughts of vanity and superficiality.
SPLIT: Idealism/Uncertainty
Split explores the detriment of indecision and how difficult it becomes when you’re constantly stuck in the middle of two trains of thought. You’re looking out at greener grass and consistently trying to decide if the other side is actually any better than where you are right now. You’re not fully in the present, nor in the past or future. It causes you so much stress internally, but that pales in comparison to how it ultimately impacts the people around you as you leave them in the lurch.
A PERFECT HOUSE: Epiphany/Commitment
A Perfect House is about me coming to realise that a relationship is always going to have its bumps, and that in the end it’s the way you deal with those bumps that should define if you’re meant to be together. No matter how perfect you are for each other on paper, these things will arise and you have to learn to communicate and dismantle them before they become insurmountable. A Perfect House is a bit of a paradox, as it’s about attaining the unattainable. There is no such thing as a perfect house, or a perfect relationship, yet we all fixate on that as our endpoint which can eventually become crippling. I’ve learnt to accept my imperfections as well as those of the people around me, subverting unhealthy expectations of myself and others.
SOMEDAY: Aspiration/Drive
Someday takes focus on my deep yearning to live out my aspirations and become the person I truly want to be. It came about from being in a darker place, observing others going about their lives and seeming so put together from the outside looking in. It makes you crave that feeling of being entirely in sync the world, like you’re in your own blissful ignorance free of anything dysfunctional. You just want to succeed at what you’re putting all of your effort into. You want your dreams to come true, you want to realise your full potential and you want to shake this monkey off your back and start living life as part of the world instead of as a spectator. The reason it is the title track for the record is that I believe it perfectly sums up the realisation that no-one is going to make change happen for you, it all starts within and you have to open yourself up to the possibility that things can and will be better before it will happen. It’s one thing to think “someday that will be me” and constantly live in the perpetual future of what could be in spite of where you are right now, but what I’ve come to realise is that real progression is made when you start to see the good in where you are right now. Be proud of what you’ve achieved, be present, and nurture the feeling of gratification that comes with it. Plant the seed.
Someday is out now!
DEAR SEATTLE FREE BBQ EVENTS
Friday 2nd September - Corner Hotel Carpark from 5:00pm - 7:00pm (AEST)
Saturday 3rd September - Crowbar Sydney from 5:00pm - 7:00pm (AEST)
Sunday 4th September - The Brightside Brisbane from 2:00pm - 4:00pm (AEST)
SOMEDAY TOUR DATES
ADELAIDE: FRIDAY 23RD SEPTEMBER – LION ARTS FACTORY, PERTH: SATURDAY 24TH SEPTEMBER – THE ROSEMOUNT BRISBANE: FRIDAY 30TH SEPTEMBER – BRIGHTSIDE OUTDOORS MELBOURNE: FRIDAY 7TH OCTOBER – CORNER HOTEL SYDNEY: FRIDAY 14TH OCTOBER – CROWBAR
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