Sometimes it feels as though Seattle is sealing itself in a concrete tomb.
It's an uncomfortable (and obvious) truth that at this point borders on cliche; our city is buckling underneath the weight of skyscrapers and pop-up condominiums. Our civic culture is spreading itself thin to include big business and the transplants such a thing attracts. Seattle is an increasingly expensive city in which to live, to the point where it is becoming an untenable place for people in the working and artistic classes to live. These are all things you've heard before, and probably many, many times by now. What do you do when the toll of the place you love comes with a heavy cost?
For Seattle psych trio Weep Wave, there are no easy answers to this quandry. They power through by turning up the volume on their amplifiers and mine the depths of their emotions. On their new album S.A.D. (an appropriate acronym for Seasonal Affective Disorder), the band explores the bold, expansive differences of the changing seasons (which can sometimes be pretty drastic here in the Pacific Northwest when you add the often-grey skies).
"Concrete," the third single from the album (out Friday, January 11 via MountainTree.TV), starts slow, squalling, and heavy as its namesake, speeding up to a sprint through city streets crowded with people and the weight they carry individually. Its lyrics explore the nature of the city being swallowed by the insatiable monster known as capitalism, anticipating a cement tomb, "death by a thousand cuts," clouds in the sky shedding their tears all over the sidewalks, and mothers who will sell your soul for the right price. There is a darkness cast that is hard to escape, the sound of cement trucks pulling up behind you and the impending terror of being trapped in something you can't break through.
The band offered a few words about "Concrete," which you can read below:
Our new record “S.A.D.” is a concept album and is broken up into the four seasons. Concrete is the first song of grey cold winter. The lyrics talk about Seattle being constantly under construction and losing nature and it's own history in its wake. I think the line “You crave to pave your own grave” sums it up pretty well.
Weep Wave are playing two shows later this week, a record release show for S.A.D. at Sonic Boom this evening (Thursday) and playing Black Lodge for Seattle Freeze Fest on Friday. Both are great opportunities to get your face melted off by guitars.
