Fotoform, the Seattle-based band have announced details of their third album Grief is a Garden (Forever in Bloom) on 18th of April. In support of the album, the band will be embarking on a series of European dates before returning to Seattle for their hometown release show at the Tractor Tavern on May 29, presented by KEXP.
They have also shared their haunting new single, ‘Grief is a Garden‘ that waltzes, chimes and with wondrous vocals that plunge deep into the theme of loss, holding echoes of Cocteau Twins and the Cure, along with its accompanying music video directed by Erik Foster.
The track delves into deeply personal themes of grief and loss, with Kim House of Fotoform offering insight into its creation:
The title track to our upcoming album, “Grief is a Garden” reflects on the enduring, ever-evolving nature of grief and how it changes over time. Grief blooms, decays and nourishes itself, embodying love, beauty, pain and transformation. As we move through life, we accumulate grief, and the song contemplates the evolving nature of our relationship to loss and love, as grief becomes a part of us, forever changing us and informing our new selves as we continue with life after loss.
My brother Jeff passed away suddenly and unexpectedly at the end of February, right after we released our first single. I am still trying to absorb the devastating reality that he is gone. I never could have imagined I would lose another brother just as we are starting to release songs off our album, which is centered around grief, loss, resilience and healing. The lyric “Waves keep crashing, unforeseen, losing someone is never what it seems” has been swirling around me as I feel blindsided by the loss of my brother. We’d been planning on talking about grief with the new record, but it’s another thing to suddenly find yourself newly grieving again.
The longing for answers to life’s unknowable questions is palpable throughout this song, as I’ve wrestled with existential doubts since childhood, questioning everything from the stories I was raised with to the mysteries of life and death itself. “Into the ether, we all call out” is a reference to the unknowable place we enter when we die – an acknowledgement and a cry for connection.
Loved ones who touch our souls meld with our spirit and never leave us. Tethers to those we’ve lost surround us when we open our hearts. We often feel these connections after we lose someone: a certain song comes on the radio or a shared symbol appears at the most poignant time. Heightened awareness of these synchronicities tethers us to those we’ve lost.
Grief, so deeply personal yet also universal, is hanging heavy for so many of us these days. We all find ourselves in mourning, whether for loved ones, the erosion of societal values, social injustice, dismantling of democracy, upheaval from natural disasters and the intensifying climate crisis, loss of relationships, former versions of ourselves after injury and disability and anticipatory grief of what’s to come – the list is endless.
Creating this album was a ritual in reflecting on grief, sitting with it, metabolizing, and letting it sink into all the cracks and crevices, fully absorbing grief to understand – and eventually release – some of its tight hold / energy. As I return to this familiar and tender state of fresh sorrow and loss, I take comfort in the knowledge that with time, grief will soften around the edges and the warmth of love will reclaim its position in the foreground.
With Grief is a Garden (Forever in Bloom), Fotoform’s sound evolves once again, blending the emotional weight of post-punk with the ethereal beauty of shoegaze. Following the success of their 2021 album Horizons, the band continues to push the boundaries of their music, refining their crystalline sound into a lush and introspective landscape of beauty, sadness, and resilience.
Kim House (vocals, bass, synths, guitar) and Geoffrey Cox (guitars), joined again by Michael Schorr (drums, ex-Death Cab for Cutie), have created an album that dives deep into themes of loss, change, pain, and transformation. With lyrics that are both vulnerable and disarmingly honest, the album carefully unpacks existential questions, all while crafting a soundscape that is at once cathartic, graceful, and driving.
Fotoform Tour Dates (more TBA):
APRIL
2 – Seattle, WA @ The Central Saloon
10 – Seattle, WA @ Madame Lou’s
19 – Paris, FR @ La Mécanique Ondulatoire
24 – Berlin, DE @ Tommyhaus
25 – Dresden, DE @ Scheune/Blechschloss
APRIL
30 – Münster, DE @ Rare Guitar
MAY
3 – Meschede, DE @ Mono Bar
9 – Madrid, ES @ TBD
10 – Guadalajara, ES @ TBD
29 – Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern
