‘Said Your Name’ by Film School | New Album, ‘We Weren’t Here’
Exclusive track premiere of ‘Said Your Name’, taken from the latest album by this great indie shoegaze band, Film School.
Anticipation. Separation. Regret. Revelation. These themes repeatedly emerge from beneath the waves of psychedelic dream pop on ‘We Weren’t Here’, the sixth full-length release from shoegaze masters Film School.
“This is probably my favorite track on the album. I love the way Noël’s vocals glide over the top of the instruments and gently lead the listener through this breakup song. So many breakup songs are about fucking over, or getting fucked over. The ensuing anger can almost make that type of breakup easier; it’s black and white. This isn’t that. This is about a couple that still loves one another, but are changing as individuals and unable to align. I love the way Noël’s vocals glide over the top and gently lead the listener through this breakup, she really captures the situation.” Greg Bertens
Whereas the band recorded the previous album while holed up together in the isolated Southern California desert enclave of Joshua Tree, the Covid pandemic forced a different kind of isolation this time around. Already divided between the SF Bay Area and Los Angeles, bassist Justin LaBo, guitarist Nyles Lannon, frontman Greg Bertens, and keyboardist Jason Ruck—each from his own quarantine home studio—had to collaborate on the songs remotely. Except for when newest member Adam Wade met up with Greg to record drums at LA’s Headwest Studio with mixer Dan Long (all wearing masks, of course), the bandmates never saw each other in person during the entire making of the album.
What emerges from beneath the waves of the album’s psychedelic dream pop are bittersweet themes of a year lived in suspended animation: anticipation, separation, regret, revelation. With their sixth full-length release since the band’s formation over 20 years ago, Film School crystallize their position in the shoegaze pantheon.
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Headline photo: Steven Simko
