Remain has today premiered their new single titled ‘Season of Youth’ dropping tomorrow (March 8th). Remain is a rock band straight out of Denton, Texas. The 5-piece group has a sound that’s often described as anthemic, and their newest single is no exception. “Season of Youth” begins with a texturally pleasing stack of organ and guitars with a crisp rock kit to seal the deal. Remain combines the sounds of classical rock with grunge, pop-punk…
The beginning lyric starts evocatively:
“Love you to pieces and I tear myself apart…
City of a million cities, wanna see it one more time”
As the clean left-panned running guitar lines push forward, we feel his long, followed a series of questions.
“I remember how it was, and I don’t wanna know…Is it me? Is it you? What if all the world would leave us a season of our youth? We knew”
We all have that one city and that one person that never leaves our hearts- no, it’s deeper than that- our souls. After just a few moments, it becomes clear that “Season of Youth” is nostalgic bop about wanting to be reckless with someone, believing in someone…and longing for a taste of it all again.
Remembering back to how it was is a universal experience- and if it hasn’t happened to you yet, it sure is coming. Remain knows this, but if anything, this bleak fact seems to propel their music forward.
“Maybe someday I’ll be somebody else…If ever I feel it again (I’ll say I remember when)”
Remains’ heartrending single “Season of Youth” is beautiful because it could mean something different to each listener. Some people may hear a love song full of longing, perhaps a hope for rekindling something with a lost love…While others will glean that it’s someone looking back on his life as a whole. In any case, Remain has created a synergistic single that feels both classic and new, and speaks volumes on tenderness, life, and time’s ticking clock.
“Over the years, through multiple lineup changes, we have inched closer and closer to our true sound. This is the first time we’ve recorded as a band without any sub players or hired musicians. This is the closest we have ever been to defining the authentic, Remain sound.”
Q&A
The texture at the beginning of your single is so lovely- How did you begin writing this song?
Thank you so much for listening and for the kind words.
‘Season of Youth’ was written on a Saturday morning after eating breakfast with my wife at the Seven Mile Café in Denton, TX. I had heard an upbeat song on the playlist at the café while we were eating and it made me want to write something with a double-time, dance rhythm.
Returning to our apartment, I spent the morning strumming chords to that rhythm, scatting melodies, and jotting down lines. The texture of the song comes from the chord progression, and I think the chord progression just naturally spilled out from the emotions I was feeling at the time.
‘Season of Youth’ is a complex juxtaposition. It’s simultaneously sad and triumphant. It’s frustration and celebration all rolled into one song. It’s a song with a dance rhythm but visceral, somewhat heavy content. Lyrically, it has small moments that sound a bit hopeless but the rhythm, music, and melody lift the entire song to be essentially hopeful.
Is “Season Of Youth” a song about a person, time passing by, or both?
Simply put, I think this song is about coming to terms with where one has ended up, reflecting on what got you there, realizing that you can’t go back, and celebrating the fact that you have someone to go forward with.
This song was written shortly before I became a parent. I was over thirty, working two, entry-level jobs that I didn’t like. My dream of building a band and playing music for a living had failed multiple times and was in yet another ‘rebuilding’ phase. Combining this with the fact that I had no career, that my wife Kailey and I were living paycheck to paycheck in a one-room apartment, and that we were about to be undertaking the responsibilities of parents and providers, was weighing heavily on me.
I remember thinking “Man, I should be further along by now. I should have a career and should own a house and should be making more money and should have things together.” All my peers had these things, why didn’t I? But while my peers were building careers, I had been building a band and chasing a dream that simply hadn’t happened.
Kailey was excited about the future, but my excitement was overshadowed by the disappointment of my failed dreams, and the fear that my family would suffer because I’d chased a dream over a career.
On one hand, I was at a place in life where I was no longer a kid—I had lived through the springtime of my life and felt like I’d gone straight to the long winter from which there was no escape and in which youthful dreams were dead. It felt a bit like life was all it was ever going to be.
On the other hand, I knew I was tackling life and starting a family with my very best friend in the world. We’d been through so much together, and now the two of us were about to have a child of our own. I knew that whatever we went through, we would continue to go through it together. I also knew that what we had was rare, and that though my musical dreams had not yet worked out, she was my dream long before music was. It’s like Tom Waits sang, “I know a place where a royal flush can never beat a pair.” That’s us, and that ‘place’ is the season that matters most.
On your website, your band quote says, “Things seen are temporary, only unseen things will Remain”. Do many of your other songs tackle impermanence?
I would say that permanence works its way into our songs more than impermanence does. To remain, to last, to stand the test of time, thinking about what’s eternal and what’s not are the things that seem to recur–what really matters and what doesn’t. I think the songs often refer to eternal truths.
On a similar note to the last question, do you feel that love remains indefinitely?
It’s been written that faith, hope, and love are three things that will last forever. I can’t prove that love remains indefinitely, but I believe that it does and I hope it does. With that being said, I know that I can always improve when it comes to loving others. I also know that I have more questions than answers.
What was the recording process like for “Season of Youth”? I heard you worked with Grammy-awarding winning producer Eric Delegard on this one.
The recording process for ‘Season of Youth’ was the best I’ve ever experienced because the band is the best it’s ever been. I’m a little bit stubborn in that I still place value on having a band with actual members that work on mastering their instrument and playing/recording their actual parts themselves. This is the first time we’ve entered the studio with the full band intact and having familiarity with the song across the board, so that helped as well.
Working with Eric Delegard has improved how this band plays and has helped us grow as musicians more than anything else. He’s great at producing, engineering, and mixing songs. He’s fun and easy-going in the studio but he’s also honest and straightforward in letting you know if something is not good enough or if it needs to be changed. He’s taught us the importance of keeping it simple and playing the simple things really, really well.
The first time we worked with Eric was on our debut EP about 8 years ago. I look back and wonder why he even bothered with us. We were doing almost everything wrong—we were poorly playing bad instruments that were out of tune, we knew very little about song arrangement or structure, our tones were bad, we didn’t’ know how to play to what the song needs. My vocals were pretty awful at the time too—I couldn’t even sing harmonies with myself. Since then, we have improved in every facet each time we’ve worked with Eric, that’s why we keep going back.
What does the evolution of your sound feel like, and how do you envision it, moving forward?
I can write songs and I’m an average singer and an average guitarist, but I’m not talented enough to play all the parts myself, and I’m not technologically inclined enough to be an all-in-one producer, engineer, singer-songwriter, musician that can dial up all the parts from a software. There are solo artists on TikTok that literally blow my mind with how talented they are and how they can do everything without needing a band.
I’d like to continue to further develop all my skills, but even if I could do everything myself, I’d still want a band to connect with. I’m a huge fan of guys like Tom Petty and Springsteen. I know it’s an outdated way of thinking but I want to do things the way those guys did it. I want to develop a certain sound because of the members in my band and the way we play together. I believe this enriches the songs.
LINKS:
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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP9kSuBtrl2WXBSBEAnNrKg
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https://open.spotify.com/artist/65j4NHttucx1qtX6fHYTu2?si=n2cWndUzSsiPU_3rKgLeyA