Cinematic rock act Earthside have shared a new instrumental single, ‘A Dying Star‘, the first taste of a new era for the band.
The title does much of the scene-setting, as it often does for Earthside, the Connecticut four-piece who work without a full-time vocalist. “‘A Dying Star’ is yours,” the band said. “With chaotic intensity cranked to the max, ‘A Dying Star’ bludgeons the senses with the fury of a meteor shower and the heart-wrench of a broken dream.”
The track was forged in a difficult stretch for a band that, by their own account, burned brightly and then burned themselves out under the weight of their ambitions, convictions and disillusionment. For the first time the members were geographically separate and growing apart, and the brief was an explosive, high-energy live song, built at the outset with only a drummer and a piano player in the room. The result is unconventional and chaotic, unlike anything they have released before, yet unmistakably Earthside.
They leaned into the metaphor. “As time passes, the identities, the dreams, the senses of self that defined us from our earliest memories lose their spark and grow dim,” they said. Some burn out brightly, others leave a devouring hole, and while the bright debris of a dead star can sometimes nurture new creation, for others only the void remains.
Making it was a run of firsts. Earthside left their usual surroundings for Val-David in Québec, Canada, writing and self-recording at Luckchild Studio. They used the natural vista of the Canadian countryside as a mood-setter, with a wealth of vintage pedals and percussion on hand to bring fresh stylistic flavours to the mix.
Closing the Let the Truth Speak chapter, ‘A Dying Star‘ is pitched as a return to the core of Earthside‘s sound, the soul of four musicians playing as an instrumentally-driven unit, moving between soothing nocturnal atmospheres and crushing, climactic extremes. Keyboardist Frank Sacramone’s piano runs drive it, colliding with Ben Shanbrom’s drumming for something fresh and unexpected.
Blending cinematic post-rock with worldly collaborators, Earthside sit somewhere between a purely instrumental band and one enhanced by visuals and guests, and that balance is a big part of what gives their live show its pull.
