Slaughter Beach, Dog slows down and opens up on ‘Safe And Also No Fear’
Jake Ewald has found some semblance of clarity and comfort. Formerly the only artist behind Slaughter Beach, Dog, Ewald has now seen the project become a four-piece band, bolstered by touring members that decided to stick around for the long haul. In the time between 2017's Birdie and the forthcoming LP Safe and Also No Fear, Ewald has been able to slow down and open himself up to the world around him, striving to embody those very ideas suggested in his album title.
When narrowing down what songs would make the 10-track LP, Ewald left off 19 that felt a bit too"sure of themselves." What is left, Ewald says, are songs that are all"reaching for something." This musical mood is very reflective of Ewald's own vulnerability when recording his work—often after writing, he tells me, he handed over the song for his band to arrange, leading to a uniquely collaborative record for Ewald.
That new comfort with the idea of letting go is palpable in the music. Ewald's storytelling, rather than subconsciously appealing toward the frenetic tendencies of previous work, takes its time here to explore the unknown. Though not written sequentially, listeners can piece together an emotional arc, and pluck out what they need to find in it at their will.
And learning via collaboration was just as beneficial as opening himself up to a more diverse catalogue of music. Ewald recalls handing over a song to the band and then recording it as a quick phone demo."I went home that night and played it for my partner, but, as I was listening back to it, I thought, This is the kind of band I always wanted to be in," he tells me.
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