Beloved Canadian post-hardcore quintet Alexisonfire have released a new single entitled “Sans Soleil”, which comes ahead of their forthcoming album Otherness, which will be released on June 24th vi Dine Alone Records. You can pre-order the record here.
“Sans Soleil” is the third single from the upcoming album, having been preceded by “Reverse the Curse” and lead single “Sweet Dreams of Otherness”. The emotive tune is led by singer and guitarist Dallas Green, filled to the brim with soaring melodic passages and ethereal harmonies that swirl amidst a tidal wave of glassy synths and grimy guitars. Frontman George Pettit takes a backseat in this one, however his familiar snarl can be heard around the 3:30 mark, providing a suitably shouty backing to Green’s tuneful howling.
Explaining the writing process of the song ina n interview with NME, Pettit said: “Wade came in with the lyrics for this song around the same time he had been working on the Dooms Children record and I feel like it shows. The Dooms Children album touched on a lot of things extremely personal to Wade and this song is definitely in that vein…This song is about hanging onto hope during the heaviest times. Healing and letting go. Dreaming of a future where all this hurt is behind you.”
You can listen to “Sans Soleil” down below.
Otherness will be the Ontario band’s first full-length album in thirteen years, their last being 2009’s Old Crows/Young Cardinals. The band broke up in 2012 for a short period of time, reuniting for a series of shows in 2015, at the time stating that they had no concrete plans to stay together. However, as time went by, the group made more live appearances, and in 2019 and early 2020, released three singles, “Familiar Drugs”, “Complicit” and “Season of the Flood”.
Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to plenty of musical endeavours in 2020 and 2021, and there was little else other than radio silence from Alexisonfire during this time, however their grand return came in early March, when they unveiled their new single and upcoming album.
Alexisonfire have a packed touring schedule ahead of them this year, and are currently on tour in North America. For any UK fans eager to catch Alexisonfire live on their own turf, the group will be performing at Slam Dunk Festival in Leeds and Hatfield on June 3rd and 4th. More information about Slam Dunk, including tickets, can be found here.
