Benjamin Langford-Biss returns with their latest project, Bleak Soul and new single ‘Denver 2015’, out now. The single is taken from their sophomore album, ‘Shouting With Nothing To Say’, set to release in March 2022.
Discussing the song itself, Bleak Soul continues, “’Denver 2015′ is the first of a trilogy of songs on the record set in Denver over a 4 year span. Although it’s a quiet somber acoustic track it’s actually quite comical. This song details my first ever time touring America when our driver was speeding black ice to get to a dispensary before it closed. That night we stayed in the worst place I’ve ever had the displeasure of staying in. In essence the song is about how we go through pain and discomfort in order to do the things we love and how in turn the things we love might kill us. This song sets the scene and the auto-biographical narrative for the record.”
Discussing the new album, Langford-Biss said, “‘Shouting With Nothing To Say’ is the record I’ve always wanted to make but always been too afraid to. It’s raw, often quiet, sometimes loud and brutally honest and allows all my flaws and imperfections to show. I wanted this record to be more of a soundtrack, with vignettes of specific moments in my life forming a larger picture. The record fundamentally is about change; within the space of a couple of months everything I’d spent the best part of a decade working on was gone and making this record helped me deal with that. There is a comfort in the mundane, in the the simple things that make us human and this is me trying to find it. The internet has meant the world has become a place where people try to shout the loudest, a lot of the time with no real depth and this record is an escape from that. It is a self-aware reflection on my own need to tell a story in order to feel like I have purpose.”
Starting life as a studio project in 2019 after Langford-Biss stepped back from As It Is after 8 years of intensive global touring to focus on other creative outputs. Surprise releasing his debut solo album ‘Existential Meditation’ in 2020 which saw Bleak Soul exploring concepts of purpose & mental struggles with the entire point of existence through vast sonic explorations from ambient soundscapes, to guitar-heavy rock songs, acoustic ballads, jazz & 80’s new wave. Between lockdowns in 2021 there was opportunity to put together a live band for the project as well as releasing the double a-side single Living / Nihilism through his very own Bleak Records.