Bleak Midwinter, Bleak Production.

Hi internet

BLEAK MIDWINTER EP
RELEASE DATE: 10/04/2018

It hasn't been that long since I last posted a blog but I'd like to update you lot on some exciting things happening! Haunted's debut EP, "Bleak Midwinter", is in its final stages of production (I'll get to that later), and is due to be released on Wednesday 10 April. The tracklisting is as follows:

   I. Bleak Midwinter
  II. A Crimson Midnight

The title track "Bleak Midwinter" was released as a debut single, which you can listen to here. A dense song about the suffocating fog of winter, the death she brings as she falls so relentlessly to Earth, and her inescapable, seeping evergrey.

'A Crimson Midnight' is an eerie, bloodsoaked piece, polarisingly about the comfort of the winter's dark, cold nights. Almost as equally suffocating as the title track, "A Crimson Midnight" explores more obscure sonic routes, weaving theremins with weeping strings and horror organs, echoing a nostalgic haze of silver and red, the strangeness, the melancholy and the blissful torture of it all.

Only two songs? Yep. At the moment all the music I am writing for Haunted is going to be released on small conceptually inspired EPs, with 2 - 4 songs on each. The other two EPs I'm working on (due spring/summer) are three/four song pieces inspired by closely related concepts, like how the tracks on Bleak Midwinter are linked in their lyrical tones. Haunted aspires to reverberate a vision of existence, and to me, artistically, it is much better achieved through the separation of the visions, and allowing them to echo widely rather than bleed into eachother, jumbled on a 40+ minute record that jumps between concepts.

So I'm not even going to lie, as you may tell from Haunted's music, I'm shit at production. I have my moments but nah. Songwriting is my thing and when an initial mix of the song is done, I just want to move onto the next one. I remix it again in a few weeks but no matter how long I spend on it, it just never has that oompf so at this point I'm just like fine be like that I've got other stuff to be getting on with. Hopefully in the future the quality will flourish into what it deserves to be as I figure out how to dim my want to write, but all three EPs out in spring/summer will most likely be somewhat questionable production-wise - not bad don't worry, I wouldn't put out something that didn't deserve to be released, it just needs a bit more love. Haunted probably won't do a full-length release till that's all sorted, just loads of smaller, conceptual EPs obscurely existing in their own slightly-off sound. I'm hoping you all can appreciate the songs as the weird spooky things they are without holding them to professional production standards :)

In the coming months when the EPs come out and if the project gains a little bit of traction, I might release some small, highly limited bits of merch on my Bandcamp if you would like to support me as an artist or own a bit of my surreal mind. I won't be printing CDs/tapes etc till a full length release as that shits expensive jesus but I have some unique ideas for merch bundles including shirts, lighters, guitar picks... to make the project more inclusive and absorbing for the audience.

Thank you for all your support, I truly appreciate it  💜 Blows my mind anyone would want to listen to my stuff even if it's only a small number of you. To stay updated with Haunted's activity, you can subscribe to the official site (this site) at the bottom of this page where I'll be posting more blog updates, artwork, lyrics, release and press info... Everything your souls may crave will be gathered here.

I'm also active on Twitter with shorter-form updates, initial artwork releases and random spooky bullshit. You can download all my music for free on my Bandcamp, or listen on Haunted's YouTube.

Cheers
    - Hysteria