Silent Planet: A Journey Into The Superbloom

Stories are one of the greatest gifts we have as human beings. Most importantly, it is how we keep our loved ones alive when they have passed on. Many of the greatest writers have lived on through the books they have published. C.S. Lewis is one of these great writers whose work is still beloved to this day. Whilst his most famous is the children’s fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia, Lewis also wrote The Space Trilogy. The first book, Out Of The Silent Planet, is the inspiration behind the name of Californian metalcore band, SILENT PLANET. However, the novel’s plot also inspired the band’s fifth album, SUPERBLOOM.

“The protagonist, Doctor Ransom, goes and finds these other beings that are like humans without a lot of the broken human condition that we see in our world. The whole narrative about human beings that are fundamentally different than us in terms of their consciousness was a big influence on the album,” frontman Garrett Russell explains. “A lot of the other influences included urban myths and legends, as well as mystic verses in the Old Testament of the Bible that talk about ancient primordial beings. This album, SUPERBLOOM, is about encountering other beings. They’re extra-terrestrial, as these beings are more ultra-terrestrial. They move in and out of our dimension.”

“The album is a story – I believe it to be a true story – about uncovering beings who are around us every day, but it’s very rare to come into contact with them. This is due to their higher dimensional existence. Some religions have called them angels or demons, and some people believe them to be ghosts, spirits or aliens. But it is a phenomenon that a lot of people in their life call superstition until it happens to them. I think ultimately we’re just people throwing words at experiences that we don’t have the words for.”

He goes on to explain how we’re experiencing reality in ways that we are yet to scientifically explain. “In quantum physics, they’ve started to talk about there are different ways that we’re bound on other dimensions of reality.” He goes on to explain how we can’t quite explain it yet, and if we live 500 years from now, then our current science will be seen as primitive. “I hope it doesn’t come across as anti-science. I’m just saying that we have to be humbled sometimes. We just have to get to a place where we just simply let it be.”

For those who grew up in a religious context, Garrett says that those religious figures who don’t pretend to have an answer to questions that cannot be answered are the ones who have arrived at humility. “I’m experiencing reality through the filter of a white American guy. There are so many different ways to experience reality, and I’ve learnt to embrace the not knowing.”

On their second album, Everything Was Sound, there is a song called Dying In Circles. That song contains the lyric: ‘Trade your certainty for awe’, and Garrett explains that the lyric is the mantra for SILENT PLANET. “Whether someone comes from a fundamentally atheist context of what is real and what is not, or they come from a super religious context, something that I believe in and what the band talk about, is learning how to listen and learning how to find joy in not knowing. Curiosity across your lifetime will bring you to more beautiful places.”

SUPERBLOOM is a concept album that is about “a kid who went missing in Humboldt County in 1996, and the album is about the journals that were left behind explaining the encounters this person had in the forest. It’s also known as the lost coast. It’s a stretch of land off the coast of Northern California that is known for a variety of strange sightings. It’s an odd place. I’d say 95 to 98% of Americans have never been there. It’s not super accessible because you have to drive several hours by car.”

“It’s not the kind of place that people are going to stumble upon very easily, which has given rise to a lot of mythology around the area. I grew up inland from there, and some of the story takes place there as well. But a lot of the record was inspired by my experience in growing up in Northern California and meeting a lot of people who had come from out of town to look into some of these things. It’s an odd place. I don’t think this album would’ve happened if I hadn’t grown up there, running around through the trees.”

In previous SILENT PLANET albums, the band have talked about history or modern social issues. However, on SUPERBLOOM, they approach the world differently, “talking about more ideologically controversial by the way we are looking into things that a lot of people might think is foolish to even begin to think about. Although there are still political undercurrents to this album, it’s more embedded in what’s being told about the world and in which its broken. The lyrics are not so much spelling it out for people, but I think for those who have been following the SILENT PLANET story, they’ll know it’s there.”

As SUPERBLOOM was only released in November, Garrett explains that due to the wide scope of the album, he’s only now getting a sense of what people think of the album. However, like many of the greatest science-fiction writings, the wide and ambitious scope of SUPERBLOOM means that it have a long shelf life. It might just be the most important chapter in SILENT PLANET‘s history, and one that will go on to define the band in the years to come.

SUPERBLOOM is out now via Solid State Records.

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