Pittsburgh's Second To Safety churn heavy proggy post hardcore in stunning ways on "To Be Beautiful"

A beautiful power

To Be Beautiful is the latest single by 4 piece art punk, emo, post-hardcore Second To Safety from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and if you say that title it could mean different things, it could be angled in different ways, couched as a declaration or as a question and everything in between. It seems simple but is complex. In many ways, the song and by extension, Second To Safety. is the same exact way. For me, emo as a genre when done to an extreme feels forces and maybe too pained. Pain doesn't need to be skewed in a hyper realistic way, it just needs to be wrought out in a real way. On To Be Beautiful, Second To Safety blends a big post hardcore sound with elements of emo but not to access. The proggy moments are radically and dynamically pervasive, so much so that when the bottom drops out and the song rides on beautiful keys and vocal melodies you get real chills (I know I do). Incidentally, this quiet moment on the song might be it's most powerful. The musicality across the board is tightly wound and exquisite (fucking badass). Vocal duties are shared between Sean Dekonty (lead guitar, vox) on the verses and Zack Bowman (guitar, vox) on the chorus. 

To Be Beautiful is from the bands sophomore full length "Esther" dropping on February 28th, (2020).

Sidenotes: Josiah Wages (Bass), Tyler Zelenko (Drums) currently fill out the band though Tyler Rutherford (Drums) and Brandon Blackhurst (Bass) are featured on "Esther"


-Robb Donker Curtius





THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:

Second To Safety is a 4 piece art-punk, emo, post-hardcore band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Our sophomore LP "Esther" is due February 28, 2020.

"Esther" is a concept record about finding hope and purpose in an increasingly complex, seemingly dire world. It weaves through politics, mental health, spirituality, and mundane everyday-ness in a purposefully nuanced, open-ended, and hopefully, real, way. It is not an album offering simple solutions to hard questions, it's not a 12 step plan to getting better, but neither is it an album of hopelessness or unfocussed anger. Instead it echoes the late Beat Poet Allen Ginsberg: "I am with you in Rockland" or wherever else you may be. At it's core "Esther" is an album of solidarity, an album about being together without the overly romanticized bombast that usually accompanies that message. It's right to feel like things aren't okay in the world, but the important thing is to not give in to despair. We are here with you and together we can figure out what comes next.