“Every time you take a step the horizon changes and new things present themselves to you,” he says.Ĭoalescing the forces of nature with the natural state, Horizons/East unfolds around twisting guitars on the hitting “Scavengers” into the dreamier scope of “Northern Lights.” The sharper strikes of “Summer Set Fire to the Rain” and the brooding brew of “Still Life,” ebbing and flowing along to the piano close of “Unitive/East.” Incorporating jazz quartal chords, and experimenting with guitar riffs pressed from the Fibonacci sequence, a numerical pattern used in the earliest mathematics, Horizons/East forms a meditative trip, from the opening “The Color of the Sky,” a track Kensrue calls a mini picture of moving from a place that’s bounded and closed off to opened horizons. “I really try to pay attention to the song and let that inform what the lyrics are actually about, and that’s a huge part of the way I write now.” ‘Horizons/East’ “It isn’t about content necessarily, but it has dynamics and emotion and a flow,” says Kensrue. Over time, the songs end up having a story it has to tell. Then we’ll jam on whatever we put together and take another step as we evolve it, so it’s usually a longer process.” “I think because we all write, it’s rare that one song just pops out from one of us since we’re usually blending multiple people’s ideas. Writing within the band, the collaborative effort leaves each song open to reinterpretation as the lyrics come in. “We gather material over time, and then as it reaches a critical mass, we start sharing all that with each other and starting to play out each other’s ideas, combining them, and building them up.” “There’s always bits and pieces that are kind of floating around that are older and get picked up,” Lead singer Dustin Kensrue tells American Songwriter. Mostly written following the band’s 2018 release Palms, Horizons/East also took some new form as it unraveled around the trying year. Working through individual pieces remotely, the band kept studio time down to small bursts, jamming out ideas, then taking them home to flesh out. For our upcoming review of Horizons/East, keep it locked on Boolin Tunes.Reflecting on the relationship between nature and humanity and all the fragments in between, Thrice assembled their 11th album, Horizons/East (Epitaph) throughout the lockdown in 2020. Which ever medium you prefer, you can pre-order the album here. Horizons/East is due for a digital-only release on September 17th 2021 via Epitaph Records, followed by a physical release on October 8th 2021.

Kensrue further elucidates the meaning of “ Summer Set Fire to the Rain” : “How often is life spilling over with beauty and novelty and possibility and all we can do is complain, in this case about getting wet, and to miss the moment completely? So much depends on how we attend to each moment.” On “ Summer Set Fire to the Rain“, Thrice continue thematic and sonic threads established “ Scavengers” and “ Robot Soft Exorcism“, with a dash of that beloved Vheissu post-hardcore sound added in for good measure.ĭiscussing the creative process behind the latest single, vocalist Dustin Kensrue says: “Much of this song is really close to Ed’s original demo… As we got together and were jamming on the parts, I ended up singing the words ‘summer set fire to the rain’… My accidental poetic framing of being caught in the rain while the sun shines became a central metaphor for the song.”

Scavengers thrice lyrics