Minnesota metal band, In Search Of Solace’s latest album, Enslaved To Tragedy poises the question, “Do we need tragedy in order to survive?”. While this question and the themes that surround it might seem a bit melodramatic from the outside looking in, for the band, it was a real question they were asking themselves when they were working on their introspective new album. By exploring this question and the reality that came along with it, In Search Of Solace was not only able to create an incredibly powerful release, but also something that they can be proud of for a long time to come.
With the album out now, we recently caught up with the band to talk about the new songs and their plans for the future. Read the full interview now below.
Can you tell us a little bit about In Search Of Solace for anyone who might not be familiar?
Yes! We are a 4 piece from the Twin Cities, MN. We have grown up in the Minnesota music scene playing in other bands and going to shows. In Search Of Solace originally started as a name change for a band that Nick and Jonny played in previously. After a few member changes we landed on the current lineup and have been that way since about 2015.
You guys just released your new album, Enslaved To Tragedy. What are you most excited for fans to hear on the album?
I think I’m most excited for people to hear the deeper cuts. I think the songs that weren’t considered for singles are interesting because we tested new waters and the singles are a little more widely accessible.
Did you have any major goals in mind when you first started working on the album?
Write the absolute best songs possible. Don’t get caught up in small details but focus on the overall song and make it memorable and moving.
How do you feel you’ve grown or evolved with the writing of the album?
We learned a lot from working with Ryan. From what makes a good lyric to how to make a part not boring and repetitive. How to say something and get a message across without being too vague or too specific, depending on the application. We owe a lot to him, it was one big learning experience.
Enslaved To Tragedy asks the question, “do we need tragedy to survive?” – a questions posed specifically to artists. How has this theme of the album applied to the music you’ve written so far? How has it affected you?
When it came time to write this album we were stuck. No inspiration, minimal motivation. Life was feeling good and we were feeling out of ideas. Most of our previous material spawned from trials and tribulations which we write and vent about to help us get through it. So that’s where the theme for this album came from; do we need tragedy to feel alive? To feel inspired? Is there any good without the bad? So that was our approach. It has affected us by making us grateful when things are going well and to just stop and smell the roses a little more. Tragic things will always happen, we can choose to be beat down by them or learn from them.
Were there any specific stories that you wanted to tell on the album?
The story behind Deathwish is we were on tour in Canada and I got a call that one of my good friends had died. She had been struggling with drug addiction for as long as I’d known her. We tried to convey her pain from her perspective. She would get sober and start to piece parts of her life back together. Then she would stumble and inevitably relapse. It’s hard to watch somebody who wants something so bad, finally achieve it, just to relapse and disappear from my life for months at a time. Why do others get to have recovery and sobriety and she didn’t?
For Enslaved To Tragedy you also worked with a producer, (Ryan Leitru) for the first time. How do you feel he affected the final product? What did you learn from him?
Honestly, it was pretty surreal getting to work with Ryan. Most of us grew up listening to his old band, For Today, so it was definitely wild the first time we talked on the phone. It was comforting to trust his creativity when we were tapped out on some songs after hearing them a million times. He knows what he’s doing and we felt he was absolutely the right guy for the job! The relationship developed shortly after he did the farewell EP with our hometown friends in Your Memorial. I emailed him and sent him our demos, it wasn’t long after that that he drove 10+ hours to do pre-production for the record! Talk about dedication.
He was a vital part of this record. He helped us pick the most promising songs from our demos and helped mold them into the best versions they can be. We had complete faith in him. We spent a bunch of time working on lyrics as well as instrumentals. Making sure we were saying exactly what we wanted to say, being intentional about where to be specific and where to be more vague. All the while keeping in mind we want people to sing them back at us so we want them to be memorable and catchy.
With the album out now, do you have any other big plans in the works? Any shows or tour dates?
We have tour dates being booked currently but no spoilers yet! We want to get on the road ASAP and play our music for people!
Thanks for taking the time to chat with us! Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Thank you! We are very grateful for this opportunity to release our music to wide spread audience so we want to thank Ryan Leitru, Shawn Keith and everyone at SharpTone Records for taking a chance on us!
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