Dreamshade: Looking At The Bigger Picture
A Pale Blue Dot, melodic metallers DREAMSHADE‘s offering to 2021, is an introspective look at human existence, the good and the bad, the beauty and existential dread – it’s inspiring as it is thought-provoking. In these unprecedented times of uncertainty this album is a welcoming reassurance of the bigger picture, things can and do get better. Their four year LP hiatus has geared the band up for greatness, we sat down to chat with Fernando ‘Fella’ Di Cicco about it.
“It’s been a tough year for everybody,” Fella admits. We start out the interview chatting about lockdown, and how despite all odds, this record pulled through. “I’m very happy because we managed to stick together and really work hard on the record production, marketing. We’re all doing it by ourselves, it’s been pretty hard.”
Unfortunately for DREAMSHADE, the writing process started weeks before the lockdown in Switzerland, as restrictions were implemented the band had to adapt. “We had to record the full album separately,” Fella explains. “I mean, it was a really nice experience. It was a new way to work at things, we had more time for each of us to be way more precise on the full production.”
Without spoiling too much, the album is a philosophically mind-boggling look at the greater picture. We’re so entangled in our own small discourses that we can’t see the greatness of existences itself. “I had this moment where I felt like people were just becoming less and less human,” says the guitarist. “We’ve been inspired by Carl Sagan, a very famous scientist in America, and his book, which has the same title as our album.”
Understandably, writing a whole album that ponders the very fabric of existence can’t be a walk in the park. Fella says the existential dread wasn’t immediate, but it was eventually forthcoming. “Existential dread actually came to mind just after all the songs were collected. We didn’t think about writing the record following a concept. So, the result of the title is just thinking back to all the songs when they were finished. We usually just write whatever we feel.” Clearly an emotional driven album for the five-piece, Fella gushes. “It’s crazy. Writing lyrics especially is very, very hard for us because we don’t really speak English. And it’s not even our second language. So, we were just trying to get people to understand what we really mean.”
Looking at the grander scheme of world conflicts and despairs, the guitarist says visiting different countries on tour really put into perspective the severity of what’s going on in the world and beyond. “We’d been touring Europe with DON BROCO. We did a tour in South Africa, a tour in Asia. We’ve been visiting a lot of different countries and have many friends. We’ve been hearing stories about their views, where they live. Everybody is thinking very differently, that shapes your real perception of other places. That was something that really started that spark that really started our us wanting to write a new record.”
“I honestly don’t know where it’s going,” Fella ponders on the reception of the new album. “I feel like I have a very positive attitude in general and our audience is really able to understand what we’re saying. I’m hoping that this album can help people reflect as much as it made me and the guys.”
A Pale Blue Dot is out now via self-release.
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