The rushed emotional urgency of "Two Circles" by BYLAND, the moniker of Seattle based (by way of Albuquerque) singer-songwriter / multi-instrumentalist Alie Renee Byland, feels like the way days, month, years rush by faster the older you get. Psychologist refer to this phenomenon as 'log time' as our perceptions shift by the dwindling percentage of our time on Earth lessens and while this track is likely seeded not by this feeling but more of the way we might stagnate in our own complex skin, I couldn't help but think of this and more.
Byland has a way of just crushing you with her vocal countenance saturated with pathos, melancholia and an innate ability to hold up two way mirrors. One with which you can see the tumultuous world rushing by but always also seeing yourself as a faint ghost staring back at yourself.
"Two Circles" if from the upcoming album "Heavy For A While" due to drop on March 29, 2024, via Mother West Records.
From LINER NOTES:
[Born of a dream of home but then waylaid by disappointment, frustration, and eventual acceptance, the journey through the past of singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Alie Renee Byland and her husband and co-writer Jake Byland led to the extraordinary new album, Heavy For A While. With its shrewd sonic template and Alie’s striking vocal performance at its center, Heavy For A While expertly marries themes of intimacy and heartache, nostalgia and hopefulness, the quest for home, and the complexity of holding onto it once it is found.]
Yesterday I was twenty five
Tomorrow I am terrified
I'm not good at small talk
I was born with crooked teeth
You're a chorus I'm a verse
But I don't have any words
I hum and I hope
You understand what I don't
Tomorrow I am terrified
I'm not good at small talk
I was born with crooked teeth
You're a chorus I'm a verse
But I don't have any words
I hum and I hope
You understand what I don't
Byland writes with the closest person in her life, her husband, and it occurs to me that having someone who knows you inside and out to write with, to analyze, construct or deconstruct your art must be an amazing thing because who else can be perfectly honest and care more about the outcome.
ABOUT this track by each circle:
“To me, this song feels like meeting another version of yourself at the bar and experiencing for yourself the curiosity and compassion that you might lend a stranger,” Jake says of “Two Circles.” “We all know this person and many of us have been this person - the one that never grew up.”
“It was an honor to help usher this song into what it is today,” Alie, who wrote the melody to what she calls a “Jake Masterpiece,” continues. “It carries a full myriad of ideas and emotions, and feels like it changes meaning each time I get to sing it. I see myself in this song. I see others. I see love, pain, anger, frustration, joy, shame, angst, everything and nothing - a fullness in duality.”
“It was an honor to help usher this song into what it is today,” Alie, who wrote the melody to what she calls a “Jake Masterpiece,” continues. “It carries a full myriad of ideas and emotions, and feels like it changes meaning each time I get to sing it. I see myself in this song. I see others. I see love, pain, anger, frustration, joy, shame, angst, everything and nothing - a fullness in duality.”
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.facebook.com/bylandmusic
https://twitter.com/bylandmusic
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5zSPR2YNjfLn5rNQPZiJgC
https://bylandmusic.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/bylandmusic/
BYLAND is the moniker and last name of Seattle based, Albuquerque raised, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Alie Renee.
Her latest studio record, “GRAY,” is brilliantly "a little weird" and breathes intriguing and often offbeat arrangements.
Alie’s cinematic, indie-rock sound is tethered by timeless songwriting and attentive production. Her music is grounded by vocally vulnerable moments that will move you to lean in and open yourself up.
After releasing her studio record, Gray, in late 2020, Byland received recognition from outlets like KEXP, American Songwriter, and Pop Matters, among others. The record was co-written with her partner, Jacob John, and produced by Nathan Yaccino, along with additional mixing by Andy Park. Notable contributors alongside Alie include a lineup of powerful females - Jessica Dobson (Deep Sea Diver), Meagan Grandall (Lemolo), and Abby Gundersen.
After having spent two years in Albuquerque, Alie moved back to Seattle in early 2022, where she is currently working on her second studio record with partner and co-writer, Jake, and Producer, Nathan Yaccino.
BYLAND, singer songwriter, indie rock, melancholy pop, bedroom pop, acoustic folk, pop noir, Alie Renee Byland and Jake Byland, multi-instrumentalist, new album "Heavy For A While", "Two Circles",
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