Creating spectacular soundscapes has become the stock in trade of the diversely talented ephemeral metal band, Sojourner. The quintet, which features musicians from three different nations, New Zealand, Sweden and Italy, released their third studio album, Premonitions, in May via Napalm Records, their first with the prestigious label.
The band’s first album, Empires of Ash was released in 2015, followed up by their critically-acclaimed sophomore outing, The Shadowed Road in 2018. Featuring a dual lead vocal arrangement, with the powerful, aggressiveness of Emilio Crespo balanced by the operatic, darkly sweet, yet still menacing evocativeness of Chloe Bray, Sojourner stands out from the metal crowd because of this, but more so because of their approach to their craft itself.
Undoubtedly, Premonitions is the most mature, the most powerful and the most sonically exceptional album issued by the talented quintet. Their journey over the past half decade has seen the band continuously evolve and deeply enmesh their very original form of metal music with elements of folk, creating a sound that comes across as very organic and otherworldly.
“We finished touring our previous record in early 2019, and before we went into the studio, we already had some songs ready to go, including The Apocalyptic Theatre which is the third track on the album. Once we got back from that tour, because me and Chloe write most of the music, over the following six months we basically put everything together. So, it ended up being a pretty fast turnaround,” said guitarist/keyboardist Mike Lamb, a New Zealand native, and one of the band’s co-founders.
“We got back from the tour and we had no other shows, so we just hunkered down and finished everything. The songs just kept coming together. It was actually probably the easiest album for us to write. I think it’s because it felt right, I can’t really explain any more than that, the songs just came easily most of the time. I think the time together, five years of being on the road and writing two previous albums, it’s done a lot for us in the sense that you sort of find your style and know what works and what doesn’t.”
The rest of the band is comprised of bassist Mike Wilson of Dunedin, New Zealand and Italian drummer, Riccardo Floridia, as well as live touring bassist Scotty Lodge.
The vastness, the mystery, the beauty and the fragility of the natural environment has always infused sojourner’s music – sometimes directly, sometimes more subtlety, but the appreciation for the environment underpins so much of the feel, vibe and tone of the band’s music.
“When we started the band, nature was going to be a recurring theme in the lyrics and stuff. And as for the music, you can feel it quite well in there, with the synths and the piano and even the guitar riffs themselves, sound quite nature-y. So, definitely nature is a huge part of the band, more specifically on the first two albums, where it was heavily referenced,” said Crespo, who resides in Malmo, Sweden, when not on tour with the band.
“Whereas on this third album, Premonitions, there is only one song that really taps into that topic in a direct form – The Apocalyptic Theatre. But it definitely is still a very big part of us as a band. Me, for example, on a personal level, I am quite desperate in wanting to preserve the environment and I guess you could say I am pretty active in that sense. It’s something that I worry about and think about a lot. But it’s also not as direct in our music; it comes out through the mystical aspect and lyrical aspect in that we love landscapes and scenery. It just really brings out a lot of inspiration for our music. So, yeah, we all have a general love of nature.”
Bray, who is half English and half New Zealander, and who lived in England and New Zealand, where she met Mike Lamb, picks up the thread of this topic.
“From the music perspective, it’s always been important for us to evoke an atmosphere and often this sense of landscape comes with that. So, we want to sort of capture that feeling that you sometimes have when you’re in a really epic, vast landscape and you almost don’t know how to respond to it. It’s very hard to describe that feeling sometimes in words, so we want our music to capture that feeling. So that’s another side of where the nature aspect comes into it, the cinematic way we talk about and write about lush landscapes,” she said.
With three Kiwis, one Swede and one Italian in the band, one would think Sojourner would have a sound that brings in all three of those distinct cultures. But Lamb believes the unique sound of Sojourner comes more from what they have in common.
“People think it’s interesting that we’re from different places. But I don’t think we bring in a regional difference to the music, because we’re all fans of fairly similar stuff. I think quite a bit of it is just the synergy of the writing and having written together so much over this period of time and all knowing each other and being such good friends,” he said.
“I think all of that feeds into what makes the music of Sojourner special. I think you just find that sometimes writing styles gel, and we’re one of the bands that benefits from that, I guess. Chloe and I have been writing together in New Zealand for 12 years, and Emilio is a great lyricist too, and all our styles just seem to meld so well together. We always seem to be on the same page, and that doesn’t always happen in bands.”
For Premonitions, the band has taken a darker, more personal tack with their approach to the songwriting, much of which comes from Crespo own interpretations and feelings about what is going on in the craziness of our present world and from a troubling period in his own life.
“It’s definitely not a concept album, but it does have an overarching theme. I write most of the lyrics and I was going through and extremely tough time during the writing process for the album. So, instead of doing this whole nature intense thing like I did on the previous two records, I decided to be a little more personal this time. So, the album deals more with feelings of despair and some anger here and there, and sadness, loneliness – very negative feelings. This album is definitely much darker lyrically and deals with very different subjects. This time there was not a lot of positivity; it’s very nihilistic in places,” he said.
“It can apply to your personal life, for people who are also going through tough times, but you can also think about in in terms of what is going on the world. I actually don’t like to write lyrics in such a direct manner. I really like to be abstract and metaphorical because that way I can attach my own meaning to it, but I also want others to have their own interpretation and let the songs speak to them in the way that suits them best.
“And for me, metal is the perfect method to release all those feelings, at least I feel that way. I think metal can help convey all kinds of feelings, from sadness to happiness. There are bands that are into philanthropy and others that are into misanthropy: you can cover any topic and also music wise you can cover so many feelings. You’ve got bands that are super melodic and upbeat and beautiful, and bands that are extremely harsh – metal covers everything. And there is also an element of escapism which, in these times, is something that people need. It’s a good way to let music let out your frustrations.”
Returning to the subject of the song The Apocalyptic Theatre, Crespo dug a little deeper into the origination and meaning of the song.
“It was actually the first song we wrote for the album and at that point I wasn’t as f***ed up in my personal life. I think the title says it all. The world has entered a time of ruin beyond anything we had ever imagined and it’s because we as a species caused it. And there are always lots of people to point fingers, different government people or different organizations or whatever, everybody is putting blame on somebody else, but nobody is taking responsibility for it. So, we’re just sitting there, staring blankly and just watching as this is all falling apart, and nobody is stepping up to do anything about it. And now there is nothing anybody can do about it because we’ve passed the point of no return. That’s pretty much what the song is about,” he said, adding that The Deluge is another song that has both personal and global meanings.
“That came out of probably one of my worst moments throughout the year of songwriting. I was very, very low when I wrote that song, especially towards the end. It has certain connotations that aren’t exactly positive. We decided to use the elements of water as a symbol, like drowning, being inundated with emotions and feelings. It pretty much stems from my worst point last year.”
The Monolith is one of the more ephemeral and darkly mysterious songs on the album, one that perfectly captures Sojourner’s amazing ability to craft songs that evoke images and feelings at the same time.
“When we decided we wanted to write a sort of haunting album at some point, I was driving, and I had the thought of this very spooky intro to the album that would set up the whole tone of how the album was going to be. I had the idea that it would have these sort of whispery sounds and very high, haunting vocals, so I started off with that and then we go straight into a heavier feeling,” said Bray.
“We also usually like the first song of the album to be fast paced and not too long so that the energy really draws people into wanting to listen to the rest of the album. Lyrically, that was one of the two songs on the album that I wrote. I had been teaching a Greek philosophy course [Bray is currently completing her PhD in Classical History at St. Andrew’s University in Scotland] and I was thinking a lot about what reality is from a philosophical sense and also from a fantasy sense because what we do is fantasy, it’s that sense of escapism.
“And some people lob the accusation that fantasy is irrelevant, but I think on another level fantasy can be a lot more real than the concrete things around us. It can mean more to us. The things we imagine, the sort of worlds that music and fiction can transport us to, are sometimes more real than just whatever is happening around us on a day to day basis. So, The Monolith was based on that idea.”
With the Covid-19 pandemic still in effect, there are no plans for Sojourner to hit the road any time soon.
“We had to cancel every show, including one big festival in particular that we were going to use as an album release show. We were going to play the entire album which we feel, more so than our previous albums, will all go down well live. There are no sections that we don’t think will work or that we would have to adapt, so we would love to play the whole thing. And I think we would have to play them in order, because they were organized on the album to flow in that order and it might be disappointing to the audience if we don’t,” said Bray.
For more information on Sojourner, Premonitions and possible post-pandemic shows, visit https://www.facebook.com/metalsojourner, or https://sojournermetal.bandcamp.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for 30 years. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
