Fred Thomas (2023):
Back in print on vinyl for the first time in over a decade, Sink Like A Symphony was originally recorded in 2005 in a storm of inspiration and personal revelations. These noisy folk songs were originally going to be a stark stylistic about-face for the third Saturday Looks Good To Me album, but quickly felt too intimate and internal for that. Instead, they became my first solo album that wasn't just a nervously thrown-together collection of songs and experiments, but something I took really seriously and worked out the details of for the better part of that year. This also happened when I was touring and playing shows more than at any point before or since, so a lot of the weird feelings and ungrounded ideas of these songs got worked out in front of audiences.
In addition to the album being properly mastered for the first time, there are also a lot of other new changes from the original form. Two songs were dropped completely, while other songs were edited, re-ordered, and sometimes added to. The original version is still up on streaming services, but for the new LPs, the idea was to present a more streamlined listening experience that gets to the point immediately. It still feels like a genuine representation of how 2005 felt for me, with some of the more confusing parts omitted to move things along. It's my hope that anyone who already knows and cares about these songs will feel the intention in changing the way they're organized, and anyone hearing them for the first time will get what I'm trying to communicate as well. Hope you enjoy the music!! :)
1. I Fell In Love With the World
2. I Built A House
3. Wet As A Cloud
4. Holland Tunnel
5. Fire
6. Susceptible To Ghosts
7. Ethan
8. Wingspan
9. Apples on the Floor
10. The Curse Is Broken! On to New Curses!
11. O Sweet Undoing
12. Wednesday Night
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A step away from the ultra-bubblegum glitter of Saturday Looks Good To Me, but still rooted in the magic of the pop song, the music on Sink Like a Symphony is heartbreakingly serious, ridiculously personal and still stuck in your head all day.
Akin to the hyper-wordy spiritual side of Neutral Milk Hotel or the experimental lo-fidelity alchemy of The Microphones, these songs clatter and shake with hope and pain, always on the virge of falling into themselves, and sometimes do, coming out of a two minute pop song into a fuzz explosion or a five-minute drum circle.
The album is strong and deliberate, honing years of four-track sonnets and bringing this special breed of basement heartstring pop music into a new, bold place. Includes favorites "Holland Tunnel" & "Wet As A Cloud."
