MONOWHALES

https://monowhales.bandcamp.com

MONOWHALESSally ShaarJordan CircostaZach ZanardoTunnel Vision, released 09 September 20221. CTRL^^^2. StuckintheMiddle3. Change###4. New Threads5. RICH$$$6. START/NEVER/STOP7. Everything I Do Is A Mistake***Sally:This album saved our lives. It's hard to admit that without the making and recording of 'Tunnel Vision' I don't know if I'd still be alive. We've all been through the ringer the last few years and I was no exception. The highs were intense, but the lows even lower. The music on this record still feels like a raw cut that is slowly scabbing over as I continually work on myself.Leading up to the studio I fell off the deep end, I holed myself up in morbid preparations and was unreachable outside my walls. Guilt drove me to showing up to the studio to finish these songs, and now in a twisted way, I'm grateful for guilt itself. We wrote and recorded this album in a time where we were all staring into static day after day, hope had faded into bleakness. I am grateful for my bandmates, friends and family who carried me and had difficult conversations with me as I waned in and out of disassociating. Fast forward to today, that cyclical thought cycle is broken. I can see a clear snapshot of how clouded and unwatered my brain was.Truth be told, I wasn't the only one in the band suffering. We each went through our own relentless dark struggles during this time. Everyday for weeks I spent hours on the phone with Jordan trying to talk the life back into him. Even just thinking back to our conversations my heart breaks. I knew that as long as I had him on the phone, he had more minutes in the day on this earth so everyday when we'd talk, I never really wanted him to hang up. In contrast, Zach can be a very reclusive guy, but our friendships run deep. Even if nothing is said, we intuitively know when Zach is going through it and we try to support him in the best ways we could.Throughout the process of writing, rehearsing, recording and making this album we continued to break our backs lifting each other up. We dragged each other to the finish line. Voila, here we all are to tell you that this is what our story sounded like and we are proud to have made it here to show you.Jordan:We made this record while we watched the world spin out of control. Sally had disappeared a week before the sessions started, so Zach and I showed up on the first day without knowing if she would be there. Ultimately, she made it to the session, and we started the month-long process of recording ‘Tunnel Vision’The vibe in the studio was apocalyptic. Everyone was wearing masks in the control room as the Delta wave swept through Toronto, pushing numbers over 4000 cases a day. Social media and the news were constant sources of fear and division. I was having conversations online with people who were telling me live music was a thing of the past and that livestream shows are the future. No one was certain there would be a music industry left by the time this album was finished. Halfway through the sessions we got word that the studio might have to close, essentially killing our record since our producer would have to fly back to the USA. This feeling came out in lyrics I was writing at the time (in our song “Change###”) - all we could do was focus on 'keeping it straight, under the weight of all this change"Through much of the recording process, Sally and I were rebuilding our relationship as I did my best to support her during one of the most difficult periods of her life. We didn’t want to lose her, and I spent a lot of time on the roof of the studio, talking through her feelings and doing my best to show her she had reasons to carry on living. Sally and I have known each other since we were in high school, and our relationship runs deeper than most. This closeness has been a source of pain for us at times, but it also helped me to be there for her when she needed me most. Little did I know that I would be where she was only a few months later, and the roles would reverse, with Sally talking me through some of my darkest times as I got dangerously close to the edge.The making of ‘Tunnel Vision’ was a lifeline for all of us. I was doing my best to emotionally support Sally to show up every day and finish these songs, hoping against hope that if she could get to the finish line, that might bring about some positive change for her. I was also trying to empower Zach to be as hands-on with the production as possible, realizing his visions for the songs and giving the band its identity through his ability to filter our sometimes haphazard suggestions into a sound that we can all be proud of. By the time the album was finished, I had drifted into a dark place, retreating from the outside world and all contact with news, social media, and friends. Sally and Zach picked up the slack and kept the band moving forward, as friends and family intervened to prevent me from taking my own life. I struggle sometimes to wrap my head around going from experiencing those depths to playing some of the biggest shows of my life, winning a JUNO, and releasing this album. Maybe some part of me had to die to really appreciate what all this means. I’m just glad I’m still here to share this experience with Sally, Zach, and all the friends and fans of the band that have supported us through it all.Zach:We always say we’re a collaborative songwriting unit, and those words couldn’t be more true for “Tunnel Vision”. We wrote over 40 songs before choosing the final 7. We gave each other space to be openly creative. We worked really hard to rebuild our trust in each other, and that work really speaks for itself when you hear Sally straight up killing it on tracks like “CTRL^^^”I really didn’t want to make a record again if it was going to be like “Control Freak” or “Daytona Bleach”. I was just so done with that process. It always felt like nobody was happy, and I definitely wasn’t in love with the way we were working. We were tearing each other's hair out for years. Enough is enough, let’s try something different. This might have been working before, but it didn’t feel sustainable and it was time for a change. It was a risk, but I think it’s definitely worth the reward. There is no right way to do art, but we’re finally settling into a way that works for Sally, Jordan, and myself. I don’t think we would’ve arrived here if it wasn’t for a global pandemic either. So there’s a silver lining for me.

City: Toronto

State: Ontario

Country: Canada (CA)

Currency : CAD

Platform: Bandcamp

Technologies used: Fastly CDN