The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die Release New Album ‘Dreams of Being Dust’ Out Now Via Epitaph
Today, experimental post-rock sextet The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die share their new album ‘Dreams of Being Dust’ out now via Epitaph. For their fifth record and follow-up to 2021’s Illusory Walls, the collective took inspiration from a world ravaged and devastated by late-stage capitalism, neo-liberalism and neo-fascism. Embracing heavier elements to accompany this music made for harrowing times, TWIABP have pulled no punches in addressing the crises that have developed as a result. - LISTEN TO THE ALBUM IN FULL HERE
After unleashing an array of scathing singles ranging from punishing hardcore brutalism to bleak post-rock, check out the band’s riff-heavy focus track “Dimmed Sun.” Guitarist and vocalist Chris Teti comments, “Our drummer, Steve, had mentioned wanting to start a record of ours with a blast beat since around the time of our first LP. Thankfully we stopped being cowards about it and actually followed through." - LISTEN TO “DIMMED SUN” HERE
"This is actually the first track we wrote for the album,” Teti adds. “This and the last track on the album were originally written for a split with a much heavier band. We thought it would be interesting to try and outdo the other band at their own genre. This essentially opened the floodgates for what we may have thought possible for the next songs we wrote for the album. Once the split didn’t come together, we decided those two tracks would work great for an LP. After that the pieces for the LP started coming together much easier.”
Lead vocalist David F. Bello provides context to the somber subject matter of the song: “Why not start with the end? It's all around us. I read Lenora Marshall's account of the 1919 Elaine Massacre and felt the cruel abandonment of government. I listened to "Jesus Was a Cross Maker" by Judee Sill and realized it will be us who end it all ourselves with environmental destruction. I saw "Mother's Mission" by Karipbek Kuyukov and knew we should make something with our bodies and minds while we can to reflect the dying whimpers of humanity. I walk across Toynbee tiles every day and am reminded that infrastructure and even the ground beneath us is malleable. Apocalyptic philosophy is depressing until you realize how much impact is still possible in our daily lives with so little left to lose.”
Even those aware of how The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die have evolved over their 16 years of existence might be surprised when they hear Dreams of Being Dust. Though it might seem like a strange shift superficially, this move towards heavier, more aggressive music actually fits the trajectory of the band’s constantly developing sound. Now a six-piece consisting of founding member Josh Cyr (bass), Steven Buttery (drums, percussion), David F. Bello (lead vocals), Chris Teti (guitar, vocals), Katie Dvorak (vocals, keyboards) and Anthony Gesa (guitar, vocals), TWIABP have always had a flair for the heavier side of things. Formerly lurking in the background, now they’re ready to embrace it and bring it to the forefront.
“One of the first bands I bonded with Steve about was Snapcase,” remembers Teti, “but that was in 2011 when we were this light indie, post-rock-leaning band. But with this fifth album, we just said ‘Fuck it.’ We’ve done the post-rock thing for multiple albums, and that’s totally cool, but I feel that live it was shifting a little more aggressive already, and I never want to settle.”
Co-produced by Teti and his studio partner Greg Thomas, then mastered by Will Putney, Dreams of Being Dust is a violent record for violent times. It’s also an incredibly important record, one that offers an unflinchingly real reflection of these troubled times we’re living in. While dark, it never despairs. Rather, it confronts and fights back with purpose and passion. Outside of its political contexts, it also feels like an important album on a personal level — the sound of a band reckoning with their own legacy and history, as well as the scene they’ve cultivated since forming in 2009.