Fotoform has today released their new video and single titled ‘Grief is a Garden’ from their upcoming album ‘ Grief is a Garden (Forever in Bloom)’, dropping April 18th via Dismal Nitch.
Fotoform is a band that you have to follow. Follow as they evolve and attach their music to those times in your life when music can make the sour a little sweeter. This is more than true with the title track of their upcoming release. It transitions between the unbearable, the overwhelming, the reminiscing, and, finally, the acceptance and growth. Fondness is inevitable, although it rarely feels like it is.
This track and video, directed by Erik Foster, takes that road of emotion and makes it a bit less bumpy. Both through relation and beautiful music that feels like a sonic embrace.
About ‘Grief is a Garden’
Fotoform, the Seattle-based shoegaze-infused post-punk band known for their emotionally charged music, is set to release their highly anticipated third album Grief is a Garden (Forever in Bloom) on April 18. The album follows the success of their critically acclaimed Horizons (2021) and will be available digitally and on limited edition vinyl (pre-order). In support of the album, the band will embark on a series of European dates before returning to Seattle for their hometown release show at the Tractor Tavern on May 29, presented by KEXP.
The track delves into deeply personal themes of grief and loss, with Kim House of Fotoform offering insight into its creation:
“The title track to our upcoming album, “Grief is a Garden” reflects on grief’s enduring, ever-evolving nature and how it changes over time. Grief blooms, decays, and nourishes itself, embodying love, beauty, pain, and transformation. As we move through life, we accumulate grief, and the song contemplates the evolving nature of our relationship to loss and love, as grief becomes a part of us, forever changing us and informing our new selves as we continue with life after loss.
My brother Jeff passed away suddenly and unexpectedly at the end of February, right after we released our first single. I am still trying to absorb the devastating reality that he is gone. I never could have imagined I would lose another brother just as we are starting to release songs off our album, which is centered around grief, loss, resilience, and healing. The lyric “Waves keep crashing, unforeseen, losing someone is never what it seems” has been swirling around me as I feel blindsided by the loss of my brother. We’d been planning on talking about grief with the new record, but it’s another thing to suddenly find yourself newly grieving again.
The longing for answers to life’s unknowable questions is palpable throughout this song, as I’ve wrestled with existential doubts since childhood, questioning everything from the stories I was raised with to the mysteries of life and death itself. “Into the ether, we all call out” is a reference to the unknowable place we enter when we die – an acknowledgment and a cry for connection.
Loved ones who touch our souls meld with our spirit and never leave us. Tethers to those we’ve lost surround us when we open our hearts. We often feel these connections after we lose someone: a certain song comes on the radio or a shared symbol appears at the most poignant time. Heightened awareness of these synchronicities tethers us to those we’ve lost.
Grief, so deeply personal yet also universal, is hanging heavy for so many of us these days. We all find ourselves in mourning, whether for loved ones, the erosion of societal values, social injustice, the dismantling of democracy, upheaval from natural disasters and the intensifying climate crisis, loss of relationships, former versions of ourselves after injury and disability, and anticipatory grief of what’s to come – the list is endless.
Creating this album was a ritual in reflecting on grief, sitting with it, metabolizing, and letting it sink into all the cracks and crevices, fully absorbing grief to understand – and eventually release – some of its tight hold/energy. As I return to this familiar and tender state of fresh sorrow and loss, I take comfort in the knowledge that with time, grief will soften around the edges and the warmth of love will reclaim its position in the foreground.“
With Grief is a Garden (Forever in Bloom), Fotoform’s sound evolves once again, blending the emotional weight of post-punk with the ethereal beauty of shoegaze. Following the success of their 2021 album Horizons, the band continues to push the boundaries of their music, refining their crystalline sound into a lush and introspective landscape of beauty, sadness, and resilience.
Kim House (vocals, bass, synths, guitar) and Geoffrey Cox (guitars), joined again by Michael Schorr (drums, ex-Death Cab for Cutie), have created an album that dives deep into themes of loss, change, pain, and transformation. With lyrics that are both vulnerable and disarmingly honest, the album carefully unpacks existential questions, all while crafting a soundscape that is at once cathartic, graceful, and driving.
‘Grief is a Garden (Forever in Bloom)’ Tracklist
- This City Is Over
- Skimming The Surface
- Grief is a Garden
- Shifting Sands
- Breathing Reliquaries
- If You Knew / Don’t You Worry, Baby
- Distant Paradise
- Reconcile The Blue
- Settle Down
The album features a more intimate approach, moving from trauma and upheaval to reflection and understanding. Fotoform’s music still carries the darkwave influences of their earlier work but with a fresh new energy. The band continues to be shaped by their musical evolution, drawing influence from bands like The Cure, Slowdive, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, and Bat For Lashes, while adding in more acoustic and synth elements reminiscent of classic 4AD artists like This Mortal Coil, Pale Saints, and Lush.
Fotoform’s musical journey began with their self-released debut album in 2017, which was selected as a KEXP listeners’ album of the year. They followed this success with a series of West Coast and European tours, including a notable Part-Time Punks Session. Their 2021 album Horizons earned them widespread acclaim, including SPIN’s “Video of the Day” for their track “Running,” a Bandcamp feature, KEXP write-up, and various best-of lists. With Grief is a Garden (Forever in Bloom), Fotoform’s evolution as a band is unmistakable, raising the bar for both songwriting and production.
LINKS:
https://linktr.ee/fotoformband
https://www.facebook.com/fotoformband
https://www.instagram.com/fotoformband/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCejkUMr8hKUWXNdNzmwc1Fw