Tag: Seafoam Walls Root

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Seafoam Walls Shares Dreamily Unsettling “Rapids”

Formed back in 2016, the acclaimed Miami-based indie quartet Seafoam Walls — Jayan Bertrand (vocals, guitar), Josh Ewers (bass), Josue Vargas (electronic drums) and Dion Kerr (guitar) — quickly caught the attention of underground music and art communities across South Florida with a unique sound that they dubbed “Caribbean Jazzgaze,” a mesh of jazz, shoegaze, rock, hip-hop and Afro-Caribbean rhythms. 

The Miami-based outfit exploded into the larger, international scene following a secret, all-ages matinee show with DC-based hardcore photographer Susie J. and Sonic Youth‘s Thurston Moore. Building upon a rapidly growing profile, the band released 2018’s R-E-F-L-E-C-T EP and 2019’s one-off “Root.”

2021’s full-length debut, XVI, which featured the A Storm in Heaven-meets-TV on the Radio-like “Program” was released through Thurston Moore’s The Daydream Library Series. 

The Miami-based outfit’s sophomore album Standing Too Close To The Elephant In The Room is slated for a Friday release through Dion Dia. The album’s title is partially derived for a metaphor for the often overlooked but significant challenges and complexes that people face in their lives. But it also is a warning about getting caught up in the details — at the risk of missing the bigger picture. “Everyone has an elephant in the room; an obvious problem in their life that everyone, including the person affected, knowingly looks past,” the band’s frontman Jayan Bertrand explains. “BUT, I say that one is standing too close, because the problem is more complex and their vision is too obstructed to see the bigger picture. So viewers are providing their skewed perspectives of the same problem. It’s an illustration of the areas in which intersectionality fails to meet.”

Standing Too Close To The Elephant In The Room reportedly represents a new chapter for the band: The album’s material not only showcases the band’s evolution as musicians, but it also solidifies their reputation as bounding-pushing artists, inviting the listener to a Technicolor mist of experimental influences and instrumentation. Continuing their commitment to full artistic autonomy, the band’s members took production duties, shaping an album that will reward those who will revel in its sweeping soundscapes, as thematically the material delves deeper into questioning the trappings of modern society and all of its contradictions. 

Last month, I wrote about album single “Humanitarian Pt. II,” a song anchored around glistening guitar melodies, a relentless motorik groove and bursts of whirring synths. The arrangement serves as a lush and dreamy bed for Bertrand’s meditative vocal to sing philosophical lyrics that examines the motivation that makes us choose our paths — and how we go about those paths. Some people are drawn to the attention or superficial perks of an occupation, without understanding what it really entails. Through the song, the listener must face the very shitty reality that only certain efforts, from certain people get rewarded. Certainly, whether as a musician, a writer or a photographer, these observations are familiar, especially when you see others seemingly being much more successful at what you do, than you are. 

“Before I picked up a guitar, I was simply a fan of music,” the band’s Bertrand explains. “Then, I began learning about the oppressive tactics of governments worldwide, and my world shattered. The entities of authority that assured me that everything they did was just were actually a key part of the problem. I started to believe that art was the only safe space in this cruel world. ‘Humanitarian Pt. II’ is about disillusionment. 
 
“I jumped into the music scene headfirst without realizing that the same tactics would exist. I then made it my mission to call out such tactics and question our societal norms like my favorite artists before me.
 
I’m still looking for an answer to all of my pressing questions, but it helps to be grouped with people with a similar mindset who have practical solutions. I gravitated towards Dion Dia records for our latest and upcoming releases because while everyone I admired raised great questions and awareness, Dion Dia presented a hopeful alternative.”

Standing Too Close To The Elephant In The Room‘s last pre-release single “Rapids” is built around a chugging, aqueous-like groove that pushes murkily sung yet hypnotic mantra-like vocals. The song manages to sound simultaneously comforting and deeply unsettling — and in a way that’s a bit difficult to pin down. “‘Rapids’ is short for white water rapids. A fast-moving body of water that cares or waits for no living being. I see time in a similar way,” the band’s frontman Jayan Bertrand explains. “Society will progress without you if you get stuck in your ways. It helps to be as fluid as the times allow.”

The accompanying video continues upon a developed glitchy and noisy VHS-driven aesthetic while focusing on bodies of water and slices of Miami life.

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Seafoam Walls Share Woozily Meditative “Humanitarian Pt. II”

Formed back in 2016, the acclaimed Miami-based quartet Seafoam Walls — Jayan Bertrand (vocals, guitar), Josh Ewers (bass), Josue Vargas (electronic drums) and Dion Kerr (guitar) — quickly caught the attention of undgeround music and art communities across South Florida a unique sound that they dubbed “Caribbean Jazzgaze,” a mesh of jazz, showcase, rock, hip-hop and Afro-Caribbean rhythms.

The Miami- based outfit exploded into the larger, international scene following a secret, all-ages matinee show with DC-based hardcore photographer Susie J. and Sonic Youth‘s Thurston Moore. Building upon a rapidly growing profile, the band released 2018’s R-E-F-L-E-C-T EP and 2019’s one-off “Root.”

2021’s full-length debut, XVI, which featured the A Storm in Heaven-meets-TV on the Radio-like “Program” was released through Thurston Moore’s The Daydream Library Series.

The Miami-based outfit’s sophomore album Standing Too Close To The Elephant In The Room is slated for an October 18, 2024 release through Dion Dia. The album’s title is partially derived for a metaphor for the often overlooked but significant challenges and complexes that people face in their lives. But it also is a warning about getting caught up in the details — at the risk of missing the bigger picture. “Everyone has an elephant in the room; an obvious problem in their life that everyone, including the person affected, knowingly looks past,” the band’s frontman Jayan Bertrand explains. “BUT, I say that one is standing too close, because the problem is more complex and their vision is too obstructed to see the bigger picture. So viewers are providing their skewed perspectives of the same problem. It’s an illustration of the areas in which intersectionality fails to meet.”

Standing Too Close To The Elephant In The Room reportedly represents a new chapter for the band: The album’s material not only showcases the band’s evolution as musicians, but it also solidifies their reputation as bounding-pushing artists, inviting the listener to a Technicolor mist of experimental influences and instrumentation. Continuing their commitment to full artistic autonomy, the band’s members took production duties, shaping an album that will reward those who will revel in its sweeping soundscapes, as thematically the material delves deeper into questioning the trappings of modern society and all of its contradictions.

The album’s latest single “Humanitarian Pt. II” is anchored around glistening guitar melodies and a relentless motorik-like groove and bursts of whirring synths. The arrangement serves as a lush and dreamy bed for Bertrand’s meditative vocal to sing philosophical lyrics that examines the motivation that makes us choose our paths — and how we go about those paths. Some people are drawn to the attention or superficial perks of an occupation, without understanding what it really entails. Through the song, the listener must face the very shitty reality that only certain efforts, from certain people get rewarded. Certainly, whether as a musician, a writer or a photographer, these observations are familiar, especially when you see others seemingly being much more successful at what you do, than you are.

“Before I picked up a guitar, I was simply a fan of music,” the band’s Bertrand explains. “Then, I began learning about the oppressive tactics of governments worldwide, and my world shattered. The entities of authority that assured me that everything they did was just were actually a key part of the problem. I started to believe that art was the only safe space in this cruel world. ‘Humanitarian Pt. II’ is about disillusionment. 
 
“I jumped into the music scene headfirst without realizing that the same tactics would exist. I then made it my mission to call out such tactics and question our societal norms like my favorite artists before me.
 
I’m still looking for an answer to all of my pressing questions, but it helps to be grouped with people with a similar mindset who have practical solutions. I gravitated towards Dion Dia records for our latest and upcoming releases because while everyone I admired raised great questions and awareness, Dion Dia presented a hopeful alternative.”

Shot on VHS, the accompanying video is a lo-fi, goofy and surrealistic romp that features the elaborately costumed band members playing different instruments in the studio — and it includes the group sing-a-along, clap-a-long montage.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Miami’s Seafoam Walls Releases a Slow-burning, Genre-Defying Single

Formed back in 2016, the Miami-based indie act Seafoam Walls — Jayan Bertrand (vocals, guitar), Josh Ewers (bass), Josue Vargas (electronic drums) and Dion Kerr (guitar) — caught the attention of cult music and art communities across South Florida for developing and honing a new genre, which they’ve dubbed ” Caribbean Jazzgaze,” as it meshes elements of jazz, shoegaze, rock, hip-hop and Afro-Caribbean rhythms.

Initially known in local circles, the members of Seafoam Walls exploded into the international scene following a secret, all-ages matinee show with DC hardcore photographer Susie J. and Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore. Over the past couple of the years, the Miami-based band have been busy: 2018 saw the release of their debut EP R-E-F-L-E-C-T and the following year, one-off single “Root.”

Earlier this year, Seafoam Walls released “Dependency” through Thurston Moore’s The Daydream Library Series as a Record Store Day release. Building upon a growing profile, the members of Seafoam Walls will be releasing their highly-anticipated full-length debut XVI later this year. But in the meantime, the Miami-based quartet have released XVI’s first official single, the slow-burning and painterly “Program.” Featuring a wobbling bass line, shimmering bursts of feedback-driven guitar, a scorching guitar solo and chanted vocals fed through a gentle layer of distortion, “Program” continues a run of bold, genre-defying material: In the case of the new single you’ll hear nods at A Storm in Heaven-like shoegaze, krautrock and post-punk mixed in a fashion that will draw comparisons to TV on the Radio.