Caitlin Interviews, Music News

BEHIND THE ARTWORK OF LAYOVER’S ‘YOUR LAUGHTER NEVER LEAVES’

Emo Pop-Punk band Layover are returning after their 2016 hiatus, bringing forward a clean slate with their new release ‘Your Laughter Never Leaves’. Founded in 2014 and previously releasing “very DIY” material that is misaligned with their renewed energy and considered aesthetic, Rainsford explains: “The sound of our old music does not represent us, and we have matured as musicians and people since then. We come with a new direction to start in a genre we are more passionate about.” As release day approaches, the band reveal how the EP’s artwork was created and what it signifies…

‘When approaching the artwork we wanted to using a photograph and not a graphic. We were trying to achieve a “sentimental” vibe, with an image that appeared that someone was reflecting on a memory within a nice backdrop.

 

Initially we were inspired by Real Friends – Put Yourself Back Together, by creating a pile of items that held sentimental value to each of us, however we struggled to think of what we would put in the photograph.

 

We saw then saw this image that our friend and photographer Nathan Heffernan had taken in the Lake District on Twitter. It captured the kind of vibe we wanted perfectly, so we approached him, asking him to take an additional photo for us, using the same technique as on the original.

 

When we approached him, we wanted his input with ideas and approach that he would take on it. He then told us how he had an image similar to what we were trying to achieve – his girlfriend at the Lake District a few months prior. He took this with a unique lens that he was playing around with at the time. Editing the photograph into black and white for us, we were then able to create a flowing image from the vinyl front cover to the back cover, and edit the female out of the image. We thought this created a really interesting design as the flow of the mountains made it look like one single image.

 

We think the image captured the vibe of what we wanted perfectly. An image that looks like a person is reflecting on a series of memories, fitting with the idea of one of our leading lyrics – “who would ever guess that I would end up sentimental?”

Layover Release EP ‘Your Laughter Never Leaves’ Via Fox Records On 04/05/18. Pre-Order:

Digital: https://foxrecords.bandcamp.com/album/your-laughter-never-leaves

Caitlin Gig Reviews, Music News

GIG REVIEW – DREAM STATE – BIRMINGHAM 11/02/18

Local Birmingham openers Mindstep were first on the bill. Mindstep are your average openers as shown by most of their performance. Yes, their vibrancy was average (excluding their amazing energy filled drummer – shoutout to them for lifting the set) but otherwise it was a lacked any audience-band reciprocity and was overall a little…dull. That’s not to say all of it was. Faster dance style tracks such as Peach lifted the set from time to time, but unfortunately the performance was brought down by a lack of stage presence from their main vocalist. A good voice, no doubt, yet it almost seemed as if they were afraid on that stage, whether it was a bad night or a bout of stage fright, Mindstep had their time and took it to a reasonable extent.

Next on the local support roster was pop-rock band Layover. With a clear definition between their old and upcoming material, it’s a clear factor of which ones the band prefer. While older tracks such as ‘Stage Fright’ had their moment, it was their upcoming unreleased material that truly stole the stage for Layover. A true overflow of emotion brought some of these fluctuating newer songs to life, and it’s something we can hopefully look out for in their upcoming studio recordings too.

Yet, if somehow you didn’t notice the bands before, you certainly did now. As Chapter And Verse flew through their set, with impeccably impressive vocal harmonies, insane stage presence and exuberant tracks to match, it’s clearly portrayed as to why they were chosen to support the full length of the tour. It’s rare to see bands consistently perform with vivacious power while including three part harmonies side by side, but through every track, be it ‘Slaves’ or even newer track ‘Magazines’, Chapter and Verse were there to get your attention, and that they did excellently.

Headliners Dream State are rising through in the world of rock, maybe not enough to sell out massive rooms, but enough to have a great performance and fan base to match. Dream State do not have the largest catalogue of material to hand, with one EP (Consequences) and two singles, meaning their set was a little shorter than one may hope, however, perhaps it was their insane performance from their opener ‘Burden’ to their ending track ‘Rebuild, Recreate’ that made time fly within the venue.

Interestingly though, it wasn’t just an average band, barrier, audience show. In a true Dream State fashion, vocalist CJ took off from the stage to sing fan favourites such as ‘White Lies’ amongst the crowd and in the pit, with some of the other band members joining along from time to time. It’s one thing to perform and sing to a few on the front row, but when you get fully integrated, singing their finale Rebuild, Recreate’ on the shoulders of a friendly mosher, you know you have a band who are there for enjoyment. This radiated throughout their set, and even though the set was a little short, there were more than enough highlights to fulfil the crowd, and either way, this is definitely NOT the last we will be seeing of Dream State.

Gig rating: 4.5/5