The Winter Passing: The New Way Of Living Is Now

Heading into the release of their sophomore album, THE WINTER PASSING‘s next endeavour embodies a beloved, far-gone time of early 2000s emo that gives major callbacks to the likes of MODERN BASEBALL or AMERICAN FOOTBALL, blended with a refreshing twist of new-age indie rock. All of this encompassed with a lyrical side tackling loneliness, anxiety and the frustrations of life make for a brutally honest and upfront album. Guitarist and co-vocalist Rob Flynn joins us to delve into the New Ways Of Living.

The forthcoming release will mark as their first LP since 2015, in that time they’ve playfully dabbled with more intimate settings like their 2017 Double Exposure EP, but for their latest work Flynn said they always knew they’d be working toward a second album when they started. “I feel like the timing was the main reason behind an EP in 2017 opposed to an album,” Flynn says. “It wasn’t until 2018 that we began writing for New Ways of Living but we always knew it was the second album we were working towards.”

The aforementioned blend of sounds on this album reflects on the new wave of indie and emo, favouring more melodic and harmonious choruses that could be considered ‘radio-friendly’ in how simplistic and repetitive they are, but always staying true to the unearthing rawness in the lyrics. Flynn attributes the main inspirations of the band to “different places and different forms of art and culture.” Though, he specifically credits “WEEZER, SONIC YOUTH, NO DOUBT, AMERICAN FOOTBALL, the sound of the 90’s/00’s and everything in between is at the root of THE WINTER PASSING‘s output,” but also mentioned some non-conventional genres “such as hip hop, RNB, funk, soul, country, grime, and traditional Irish music act as inspiration on New Ways of Living.”

One might argue that their latest album is somewhat an amalgamation of nostalgic, mid-western emo with a vivacious modern twist. A tethering point for this genre is the lyrics, which typically follow a pattern being earth-shatteringly sad and this album follows through on that. Flynn says that both he and co-vocalist & sister Kate Flynn “use the band as a means of coping with repressed feelings, aggression, and grief because they’re not things we wear on our sleeves, it provides a cathartic relief. I’ve always personally found closure in the stories I’m writing about, in the song I left it in.” Though the guitarist and vocalist admits that being so open to a large audience, some of whom are only here to criticise them, “can be daunting.” But he remarks that, “I feel like I couldn’t write a song and not speak from the heart. If I wasn’t being true to myself and my own feelings there would be no music. I’ve spent too much time in my life focused on what other people think, it’s very important to remember you have to appreciate yourself before you can appreciate anything else.”

The skeleton of lyrics can often be simple poetry, it’s an archaic practice that walks hand in hand with music. Despite how the lyrical and instrumental sides of music have evolved beyond each other, many would argue that the basis for most of emo and indie has and will always be blisteringly raw poetry typically used as a cathartic method to unravel pain. THE WINTER PASSING takes inspiration in the same way “poetry is a lot like music really,” says Flynn. “And many would argue that all music is poetry. We’re heavily inspired by Matt Berninger from THE NATIONAL from a lyrical point of view. We both admire his ability to project a feeling that can be perceived in more ways than one. We tend to use that concept a lot ourselves.”

Touching on the overall lyrical themes Flynn adds that, “the themes of the album are self-analysis and intervention. When writing songs for The Winter Passing, Kate and I always try to collaborate on the material so to speak, so for the new album, we both assigned specific songs to one another to take the lead on lyrical content for each song respectively. Because we share the vocal duties in the band, we always feel it’s important to have the two different sets of emotions and feelings transcending through the music we create. For this album it was no different, Kate wrote half the songs, I wrote the other half and we sang it all together, sometimes I’m singing Kate‘s lines, sometimes she’s singing some of my lines!”

When reflecting on those distant memories from decades past where alternative music had finally broken beyond the underground scene, big names like MODERN BASEBALL, THE WONDER YEARS, TOUCHÉ AMORÉ were beginning to bleed through into the mainstream, Flynn had this to say “we’ve toured with some fantastic bands over the years, I think we’ve taken a bit of inspiration from every single one of them. I’m a big fan of all the bands on Counter Intuitive Records at the moment, bands like RETIREMENT PARTY, PRINCE DADDY, THE HYENA, and ORIGAMI ANGEL are some of the bands leading the next generation of emo right now and it’s great to see how hyped people are about those bands. It’s important really because everyone is longing to go to a gig again, there will be enough built-up energy to hopefully save the scene!”

We’re joining you ahead of the release of your sophomore album New Ways Of Living, firstly I should ask how different has it been creating, marketing and getting ready for this album in the climate of lockdown – any hurdles or unseen challenges?

Rob: Yeah, there’s been many along the way for sure. We like every other band or artist out there have had to postpone the entire year of touring, we contemplated holding off on the album too but I think as time passed and the tremendous support and encouragement of everyone who works with the band at our labels we decided to move forward with the original release date. We’re strong believers in everything happening for a reason also. The band is used to rolling with the punches, it’s in our nature.

I know COVID-19 has derailed all of our plans but what your hopeful for in this next era of the band?

Rob: I’m hopeful for the new album’s release, we hope people love it as much as we do and the day we get to perform as THE WINTER PASSING again. As of recently, we seem to be talking a little bit more about playing shows again next year with some offers coming back into the emails opposed to postponements so we’re excited to get back out there and play New Ways of Living the way we intended previously. Every set back makes for an even greater comeback.

Just looking at the album art, what was the concept behind that also?

Rob: We’re all big fans of old Irish shop fronts, ghost lettering/typography from before the turn of the last century, and design in general. The type of buildings and signage you don’t see much of in modern society anymore, it gives you a sense of nostalgia. We knew we wanted something that resembled ourselves through Irish culture and it was an idea we all worked on together, we spent a lot of time looking for buildings all over the country. We wanted the concept to represent the band’s music with a modernist approach but also to highlight our heritage and idiosyncrasies.

New Ways of Living is out now via Big Scary Monsters.

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