Active Bird new album out 26 October 2018
Album release: 'Amends' by Active Bird
Release date: 26 October 2018
Label: Barsuk Records
More info: Band website
Brooklyn, NY’s Active Bird Community today announced their new album and Barsuk Records debut, 'Amends', will be released on 26th October 2018 via Barsuk Records. The video for first single 'Unwind With Me' premiered today via Brooklyn Vegan, and can also now be seen here.
Filmed entirely in the back of a moving truck, director Henry Kinder explains, “We considered a few different options for how to pull this off, but at the end of the day, the only way to achieve the natural claustrophobia amidst the constructed world that we imagined was to practically build the apartment into the actual bed of a truck. This choice created tight parameters within which we had to work, but it felt like the only way to achieve exactly what we wanted: to visually represent this state of unsettled displacement that we were both feeling at the time and that we were hearing in the song."
'Amends' is also now available for pre-order here.
Of the song, singer/guitarist Tom D’Agustino says, "I don’t think I realised until after the song was finished that it sort of felt like I was putting myself on trial. It was finished during a pretty confusing time in my life, my relationship was ending right around the time I had gotten sick with shingles. It became clear that my life wasn’t going in the right direction or any direction really, and that left me feeling guilty and ashamed. ‘Unwind With Me’ was sort of like declaring bankruptcy on myself - I’m gonna unravel everything so I can get back to some sort of starting line. I think I also realised that in that decision or that outlook, I felt like I could take back some control. It’s my choice to tear everything down and rebuild, and even if it hurts, it’s alright because I’m moving forward, I’m willing a change..."
Active Bird Community have also announced a fall North American tour, beginning with a hometown Brooklyn show on 27th September at Rough Trade. The dates continue throughout the northeast, midwest, and Canada before wrapping up on October 6 at Great Scott in Boston, MA.
'Amends' dwells in the intricacies of relationships -- broken bonds between friends, family, and lovers -- and hoping to heal. A contemplation on loss and forgiveness, the album volleys between the perspectives of D'Agustino and co-songwriter/lead guitarist Andrew Wolfson. “We’ve both written for the records before,” Wolfson says. “But on Stick Around it felt like Tom’s voice was the protagonist and mine was the narrator.” D’Agustino’s anxious search for maturity was countered by Wolfson’s hesitation to stop and absorb the world around them. A similar step-ball-change of action and commentary drives 'Amends' forward, only this time specific memories are unpacked, and the past is explored and confronted rather than avoided.
The 11 tracks deal with universal themes including the tension of family, loss, and learning to move on without resentment (“Amends,” “Lighthouse”), breakups (“Unwind With Me”), anxieties (“Downstairs”), and hope for the future (“Silver Screen”). As a whole, 'Amends' represents Active Bird Community’s efforts to contend honestly with the pain of their experiences and explore the empowering nature of forgiveness.
Active Bird Community’s 2017 album, 'Stick Around', was self-released last year and hailed as “a scrappy punk slugfest rife with immediate post-college struggles" (Billboard), and “superb...full of addicting cuts" (Earmilk). The band -- who have been playing together since middle school -- recently played a sold-out show at Brooklyn's Knitting Factory as part of Northside Festival, have toured with artists including Cymbals Eat Guitars and We Were Promised Jetpacks, and performed at festivals including Panorama and Audiotree.
Active Bird Community are: Tom D’Agustino (vocals, guitar), Andrew Wolfson (vocals/lead guitar), Quinn McGovern (drums), and Zach Slater (bass).