The Hallelujah Ward has released their new single titled ‘Your Uncertain Shadow’ from the upcoming album ‘Everybody Swoons’ dropping May 30th via Foreign Leisure Records. Songs are inspired by feelings. And, those feelings can be expressed in many ways, including music. With ‘Your Uncertain Shadow’, that feeling is a pure muse. An anthem against anxiety. That weight that is on all of our shoulders, at some point or another.
Beautifully crafted and eloquently executed, ‘Your Uncertain Shadow’ feels like a shout in the darkness that lets you know that you are not alone. While the music is subtle, the message is clear. The vocals feel the lyrics as if the heart spits them out as they are being said. I should let all of you know that the reason this section of Jammerzine is called ‘First Listen’ is because what you are reading is my first thought as I get that first listen. What I feel, as I listen, is that sweet relief and epiphany as this song shines a bright light in that dark tunnel we all face. A must listen for a better life.
About The Hallelujah Ward & ‘Everybody Swoons’
“This song became an ode to and an attempt to acknowledge my depression, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide and the same of other songwriters I admire,” explains lead vocalist Mark Waldoch of Milwaukee’s beloved band The Hallelujah Ward about their emotional and comforting single “Your Uncertain Shadow”.
The song reflects on the untimely death of Frightened Rabbit’s vocalist and guitarist Scott Hutchison who committed suicide in 2018. “This song started shortly after his death and just before my 44th birthday,” he adds, adding weight to the anchor of his thoughts on mortality and the fragility of life. “That darkness is a depth of feeling that goes both ways. It’s your most profound strength and an intense weakness.”
A recurring thread that weaves throughout the eight tracks of Everybody Swoons, the ephemerality of life finds itself in each song’s thread. Binding indie-pop, shoegaze, even art-rock, and Brit pop, Waldoch sews these dark elements into songs that also shed a splinter of light into each track’s fabric. “I nearly titled this record Death Swooned due to an unintended overarching theme of well… death,” laughs Waldoch.
A local celebrity (Milwaukee Record called him “a Milwaukee mainstay who has been a prominent part of the city’s music scene for more than 25 years”), Waldoch has enriched that city’s scene not only by working at the legendary Atomic Records, slinging drinks at popular watering hole Boone & Crockett but also contributing his musical talents to other locals acts and touring bands. Now, however, he’s stepping into the spotlight with his indie rock debut album Everybody Swoons.
Gravitating towards and inspired by the likes of the Cure, Siouxsie & the Banshees, the Smiths, R.E.M., the Velvet Underground, and Love and Rockets, Waldoch has been creating songs to match his passion and perfectionism with his pen and his pedalboard. He’s played solo and in various bands over the years, but nothing quite scratched his lifelong itch until now—The Hallelujah Ward’s Everybody Swoons. With drummer Dan Didier (The Promise Ring, Maritime) and bassist Paul Hancock (Testa Rosa), Waldoch finally put the pieces into place. Some of the melodies and seeds of its songs have been simmering for 10 years; some came to life just as this trio did.
Everybody Swoons follows the band’s explosive EP I Forced Myself to Live, Charlie Bee Milwaukee Journal Sentinel lauds lead vocalist Mark Waldoch as “one of the loudest and boldest voices in the Milwaukee music scene.” Described as “early Eno meets Broken Social Scene” by Josh Everett of Silver City Studios, The Hallelujah Ward shares similar sounds to bands like Mineral, Bright Eyes, and Interpol. The upcoming 8-track album features a craft of their intricate sound merging experimental synths, raw vocals, and indie punk nostalgia.
‘Everybody Swoons’ tracklist
- Your Uncertain Shadow
- Manageable Oblivion
- Crown
- Nobody’s Ghost
- Diet Suicide
- Social Grace
- The Ring of Brightest Angels, Around Heaven
- Back of the Line
LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/TheHallelujahWard/
https://www.instagram.com/thehallelujahward
https://www.youtube.com/@TheHallelujahWard
https://thehallelujahward.bandcamp.com/