Seasonal Falls’ ‘Lie Down’: Another Mellow Masterpiece
I’m a big fan of Seasonal Falls… and I mean a BIG FAN! Ever since I was lucky enough to have a sneak preview of the upcoming album, ‘Happy Days,’ towards the tail end of last year, it’s been on heavy rotation with me. Now, the Switzerland-based songwriting team of Roman Gabriel (The Kind Hills, The Dentals) and Andrew Pelletier (Fur Trader) have released their third and final single, ‘Lie Down,‘ before the full album release on May 10th.
If you’ve not checked them out yet (why not?!), then I can tell you that Seasonal Falls’ tunes and style have shades of Wilco, Pavement, Death Cab for Cutie, Teenage Fanclub, and singer-songwriters like Elliott Smith, Jon Brion, Badly Drawn Boy, and Aimee Mann. And the new release ‘Lie Down’ doesn’t deviate from the plan… but if it ain’t broke, why fix it?!
The guys have called this track the “rock song” from the album – slightly tongue in cheek, me thinks – and it is as mellow and beautiful as I’ve come to expect. The vocals are lackadaisically exquisite, and the guitars wash over you like a “sleepy blue ocean” (to quote John Denver). They are hypnotic and almost meditative. The melodies in ‘Lie Down’ have an almost bittersweet, haunting quality, and with each listen of the track, it sneaks into your psyche and gets closer to the feels – I’m seriously running out of superlatives here…
Lyrically and thematically, Seasonal Falls explain it best… so, I’ll pass you over to them:
Sometimes every day feels like a competition and oftentimes this is even our own fault. We want to become stronger, richer, travel to more places, buy more stuff, buy better stuff, learn more things and experience and achieve as many things as possible in the time we have. This, and the many challenges thrown at us from life in general, might sometimes just be too much. And though escaping and ignoring problems isn’t going to help, it won’t always work simply to push forward either. If you’re in a really bad place, it might sometimes be better to just lie down and take some time to regain energy before moving on. Lie down and relax a little!
I love the production of the track, and I know how it slots into the bigger picture of the album, so I can appreciate it on a couple of different levels… and, on May 10th, I’m sure you’ll also appreciate it too.
I can’t really offer a description of what or who the song sounds like, and more reasons as to why I think you should check them out – the influences and comparisons have been made above, and whilst there are shades of them all, the reason I LOVE Seasonal Falls is that they really are their own ‘being.’ They sound genuine. They sound comfortable in their own skin. Above all, though, they are frighteningly good songwriters and musicians. And, that’s about all I want to tell you… now, it’s up to you to go and have a listen, and if you don’t… well, it isn’t going to kill you. But, you are definitely missing out on something very, very good.
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