Image: Wyatt Clough
This year Silverstein celebrate their 20th anniversary with the release of their ninth studio album, A Beautiful Place To Drown, out now from UNFD. The long-running band have been staying busying despite their tour plans being postponed, and today they’re back to share an alternate version of album stand-out ‘Infinite’ recorded entirely during quarantine.
The new take fully reimagines the song as a smoldering pop gem, highlighting Silverstein’
Many of A Beautiful Place To Drown‘s lyrics focus on everyday mental health challenges and ‘Infinite’ seems have taken on new meaning in the wake of the pandemic. For the song’s accompanying video, the band reached out to their fans, opening up the phone lines for them to relay messages of how they’re feeling during quarantine. Excerpts from the messages can be seen over the music video’s footage of empty and eerily calm locations in the band’s home country of Canada.
Silverstein guitarist Paul Marc Rousseau discussed the new version of ‘Infinite’ and the song’s evolving meaning, saying:
“‘Infinite’ was born in the black hole of anxiety — unable to remember ‘normal,’ the fear of not knowing when the feeling will end, or if it will end at all. I think everyone has experienced that type of anxiety to some extent, and for me being locked down in the early stages of covid-19 poured gas on the fire.
“Facets of anxiety that once felt difficult to name or truly pin down slowly became concrete, tangible things. The sadness I was experiencing was no longer abstract or personalised, it was something practically everyone on Earth was relating to in real time. As days became weeks and weeks became months, it was hard, if not impossible, to see any light at the end of the tunnel. I love the album version of ‘Infinite.’ It screams into the void. It captures the emotional and physical frustration, the anger of being trapped in an anxious loop. But as of late, I feel more sadness than anger, and I thought ‘Infinite’—which for months now has felt more relevant than I ever could have known—could be rearranged to feel more like I feel.”
A Beautiful Place To Drown debuted on seven Billboard charts (including #122 Top 200, #5 Rock Albums, and #3 Current Alternative) and fittingly encapsulates the best of Silverstein while pushing their sound into daring new territory. The band may be proud torchbearers of the emo and post-hardcore scenes but appearances from artists that range from Princess Nokia to Underoath’s Aaron Gillespie, Beartooth’s Caleb Shomo, Simple Plan’s Pierre Bouvier, and more, are indicative of Silverstein’s wide-reaching impact and their ability to reach listeners in all worlds of music.
‘Infinite’ is the second album track to get the reimagining treatment, following the release of ‘Where Are You (Alternate Version)’ in June. The band also released their ‘Quaranstein‘ video and put its performances out as a digital EP (with all proceeds going to the NAACP and Black Legal Action Centre), and played a special livestream event professionally shot and recorded for fans last month.
‘Infinite (Alternate Version)’ is streaming everywhere now.
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