Churning ocean waves and sonically lush track build a emotive release
NEW YORK CITY | March 20, 2019 – Post-shoegaze/eclectic rock band Semaphore dropped a new lyric music video for their track “Leave With the Season” today. The sonically lush single explores their frustrations of modern life, and mindset needed to survive in the middle of a bustling city. The accompanying video provides a cathartic release, with a backdrop of churning ocean waves that swell and ebb to match. It comes as the title track off the band’s latest EP Leave With the Season, released last month on February 22.
Utilizing a blend of sounds including post-shoegaze, pop punk and post-hardcore along with elements of electronic, jazz, mathcore and metal influences, Semaphore build a heavy-hitting yet intricately lush soundscape. “Leave With the Season” provides a powerful musical performance, while building a gradual swell of emotional frustration and discontent.
Vocalist/guitarist Siddhu Anandalingam shared, “Leave With the Season is our hate letter to Brooklyn. It reflects the feeling of being attacked by one’s surroundings and city, dealing with annoying neighbors, construction, and having nowhere to run when your small apartment provides no respite.” Impressively, the track was written as part of a 24-hour songwriting challenge, and the first fully collaborative song that all members wrote together. Building attention in the local scene and beyond, Semaphore were proud to be added to Bled Fest‘s lineup on May 25 in Howell, MI (which announced as it’s final year).
Semaphore released their debut music video earlier this year, for “Unreliable” as well as an abstract-inspired video for “Pie“. All videos were directed by George Ivanoff. Always in DIY style, the handwriting used throughout “Leave With the Season” was provided by Semaphore’s drummer Emmett Ceglia (Detach the Islands, Mutilation Rites, Heavenview, The Dude Ranch, Autocatalytica, Manic Pixi). Semaphore provides some much-needed cathartic introspection throughout their entire EP, which they described “best listened to with headphones as you make your way around town in the cold.” Leave With the Season be found on all major digital retailers now including Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, and Soundcloud.
UPCOMING SHOWS:
April 18 – The Kingsland, Brooklyn, NY
May 25 – BLED FEST 2019, Howell, MI
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Leave With the Season [EP] was released February 22, 2019. Listen below, and access the press release HERE. It premiered on Everything Is Noise
FOLLOW SEMAPHORE:
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ABOUT SEMAPHORE:
Between jazz saxophone transcriptions and chemical engineering problem sets, Siddhu Anandalingam decided that the only way he had time to explore his musical interests would be to combine his varied musical tastes – thus Semaphore was born. Drawing from the musicality and social commentary of artists like Pink Floyd, Tycho, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Smashing Pumpkins, M83, and Tigran Hamasyan, Semaphore’s music is intricate, lush, and hard to pin down to any one genre. Check it out and you will hear a combination of all the best parts of 90s grunge with floaty shoe-gaze vocals, delayed guitar effects, glued together with subtle jazz chord voicings and great production.
After graduating from Columbia University in 2015 with a minor in music, Siddhu moved back home to the suburbs of DC, where he spent the year focusing on writing music, and getting involved in the DC music scene. Upon returning to Brooklyn in mid-2016, Siddhu quickly found the correct musicians for the task of bringing Semaphore’s music to life. At a 2016 Dillinger Escape Plan show, Siddhu recognized Emmett Ceglia while Emmett was crowdsurfing, and remembered him as a friend of a friend who was a fantastic drummer. After connecting with Emmett, he recommended Jay Kohler as a virtuosic math-core guitarist/composer who brought sensitivity and musicality to all projects he was associated with. A couple of months later, Siddhu and Jay met Niko Hasapopoulos while waiting in line to hear Ben Weinman (from Dillinger) give a talk about the music industry. While Niko was just a college student at the time, his excitement and energy was infectious, and he soon signed on as Semaphore’s permanent bassist.
Sometimes sweet, sometimes bombastic, but always entertaining, Semaphore excels at creating an enveloping experience, whether live or through headphones!
PRESS QUOTES:
“… the EP establishes the band’s infectious sound with a confidence and enthusiasm that is quite commendable. You need only listen to the opening “Unreliable” to see them play out their strengths; jittery, restless drums, emotionally charged riffs, and Anandalingam’s urgent vocal performance unite to create a danceable yet impactful experience.” – Everything Is Noise
“…the band is an eclectic range of superior musicians who are not afraid to bring it all, and who together create an amazingly lush soundscape of music that will stay with the listener.” – LA Music Critic
“It’s experimental, it’s got hooks, they know how to crank it up and the whole thing makes for a hell of a cool record.” – AlreadyHeard
“Semaphore’s latest effort is a cracker and proves them to be one of the finest up and coming acts to emerge from the Big Apple” – Small Music Scene
“Semaphore winds up on tight Bloc Party-esque rhythms as Anandalingam’s vocal and driving guitars push the action towards a delightful pre-outro bridge where dreamy sounds contrast with the whirring pace.” – Speak Into My Good Eye
“flirts between alt-rock and indie pop, with the guitars churning out great melody and the vocals remaining catchy and listenable throughout.” – The AU Review
“the 90s slacker pop approach that Semaphore employees to heavy extents that achieve a kind of effect that feels like falling face first into the What’s Up Matador compilations that were the audio bible for many a bedroom pop believer.” – Impose Magazine
Previous premieres on New Noise Magazine, PureGrain Audio
“Leave With the Season” lyrics:
I wish I could do something
To help me change the light
The ladders are all broken
The deep blue from the evening
Has transferred to my bedroom
I’m sitting in the darkness wondering why
I’ll leave it all behind
Rejecting the complacency that
Starts inside
I’ll run away tonight
The only thing that stops me
Is the hope it all gets better
This house
It shakes
From silent
Earthquakes
The paint chips
Come loose
And fall from
The ceiling
The cold air
It rips through
From cracks in
The windows
I just
Need to
Leave With
The Season
I’ll leave it all behind
Rejecting the complacency that
Starts inside
I’ll run away tonight
The only thing that stops me
Is the hope it all gets better
Semaphore has released two singles/music videos off their new EP for “Unreliable” and “Pie” (view below). “Unreliable” press release: HERE, “Pie” press release: HERE
MUSIC VIDEOS:
“Unreliable” and “Pie” are new singles/videos off Leave With the Season
PRESS PHOTOS:
Photos by Dani Sacco, please credit.
Cover art for Leave With the Season
