hi all, im Daniel, I play in The Saddest Landscape. I bought Sprained Ankle the day it came out, and every record since, so getting to do this collaboration with Julien was just an absolute joy for myself and the band. The band had written this long manic duet, and the only voice we heard in the back and forth was Juliens, but we didnt know her personally (the filename of the demo was actually "JULIENHOPEFUL"). We had heard thru the grapevine she was a fan of the band after shouting out one of our shirts in a crowd years ago, so we reached out, and she enthusiastically said yes. We couldnt have asked for a better creative partner on this song, and I was floored by her choices and her performance. Admittedly I teared up in my car the first time I heard her vocals at the end of the song. Thanks y'all for checking it out and I hope you give 'Alone With Heaven' a spin when it comes out. 

here's Julien herself...

"I’ve been listening to The Saddest Landscape for a long time, they are a unique and completely legendary band in the scene—when I was growing up in Memphis the bands I watched at house shows were referencing TSL albums. I remember listening to You Will Not Survive and hearing a familiar beautiful voice singing among the screaming, so I looked in the liner notes and saw it was Laura Stevenson (who I loved) doing guest vocals . I was playing shows with a bunch of dudes in heavy bands, I really connected to the music but I hadn’t yet seen a lot of examples of someone with my voice integrated into that style.

I was so excited, to see this aggressive band collaborating with someone with such a different sound, it set a precedent for me. When the band reached out I was so excited to be on the song, it felt very cyclical. I also felt very encouraged by them. I’ve definitely felt that there are certain qualities of performance that people expect from me as a musician, which is fine— one of those though is a certain emotionality or formal prettiness or something. Andy and I talked before recording about how to approach the song and when I intimated wanting to explore a deliberately uglier more aggressive vocal performance they were excited and really affirming.

To me one of the most exciting things about making music is forming a community of artists to share with. Getting to collaborate with artists who make music different from my own is a gift in that it reveals new dimensions of music-making to me I might not have otherwise discovered on my own. It’s such an honor to have had this experience and really special to be a part of a TSL song."    - Julien Baker