The moon, like a flower in heaven's high bower,

With silent delight

Sits and smiles on the night

Photo: Kristina Dawn

The Noise is Ones to Watch's home for all things punk, hardcore, metal, emo, you name it.

Dream punk band Glacier Veins have finally released their highly anticipated, wistful sophomore album Lunar Reflection. The album utilizes rich sonic textures and even richer feelings conjured by their dreamy punk instrumentals to sonically capture the intimate process of change and introspection. Guitarist and lead singer Malia Endres took inspiration from her own emotional and spiritual development and used the album to reflect on the bigger picture aspects of her life, all interconnected and represented by the moon, the Earth, and nature.

The reflective and thought-provoking record begins with the previously released single, "Autonomy," which explores learning to understand and love oneself more each day. "Digging Myself Out" follows up and follows through on the previous track’s lyrics, acting as commentary on realizing you're in a place you don't want to be in. The dreamy guitar riffs and calming beat of "Flower Moon" maintain the album's flow, guiding listeners through the cosmos. "Cover Me" oozes with uninhibited expression from Endres as she validates her emotions in lyrics like, "Can you feel me reaching out," and "Can you hear me screaming out."

The record goes through many twists and turns before taking a short and gentle break at "Spiral Through." The acoustic guitar shrouds listeners in this feeling of acceptance and growth, basking in how this journey has seemingly coming to an end. Then, the true closing track, "Lunation," bursts in exultation and revels in one final moment of catharsis. 

The Noise had the chance to talk with Endres, Kyle Woodrow (bass, vocals), and Jason Espinoza (guitar) further about the symbolism of the album and the challenges they encountered along the way.

The Noise: The pandemic has changed how we think about the music industry and how we think about scheduling music versus doing it on a whim. When did this album begin to take shape, and what was it like constructing the early versions of Lunar Reflection?

Malia: It's funny because we literally had just put out our last album, The World You Want To See, and we were starting to tour that right when the pandemic started. So, in that state of mind, I feel like we had no real thoughts about the next record. We were like, "Cool, we're just ready to tour," but then it kind of became the conversation like, "Alright, well, probably the thing to be doing right now is writing another record," and to have that ready when touring comes back. Even that seems funny because I feel like in everyone's heads, at that point, there was going to be a very definite time where it's like, "Whoo, everything is back to the way that it was," and not this rollout of, "Is it okay to be touring right now? Oh, shoot, okay, we have to cancel things. Oh, wait, it's back." Do you guys remember exactly when we started talking about the next album?

Jason: I think it was basically at the end of last year. Or even a couple months before that.

Malia: You mean two years ago?

Jason: Right, sorry, time just doesn't register anymore.

Kyle: I think we started doing some demos with no actual plans for anything. We were just kind of sending some demos around in the summer. But then, yeah, towards the end of 2020, we were getting more serious about it.

Malia: I think there was a point where all the writing I'd done up until then was good to go. Then we were gonna structure it into an album and continue to write and continue to put the songs together, knowing that the second album was what was on the agenda for us.

Do you feel like your songwriting process has changed since your early releases, or do you feel like you’ve found a tried and true method that still works for you?

Malia: When we finished writing The World You Want To See, the first album, two of the last songs we wrote in a room all together basically from scratch. We talked about it and decided that's how we wanted to write moving forward. Then because we didn't get together, and I just had a lot of stuff to write about too, we kind of reverted back to the way that Glacier Veins has always written in the past up until now. So basically, that meant me writing an acoustic demo, and then everybody throwing their parts into it.

Kyle: Yeah, we just adapted our process to the pandemic environment. We're a very live band; we prefer being in the same room and jamming the songs out and coming up with stuff together, but we couldn't do that, and it's hard to do that over the internet. So everyone was recording their own parts and kind of sending them to me, and then I'd put them together and get a little demo going. So I guess it's the same, but different, because we just took the live aspect out of it. It's all through email and stuff.

Malia: I feel like Kyle, you had brought this up before; how it was cool to do it that way because it allowed us to focus on ourselves and how we want to write personally, as part of the group.

Kyle: Yeah, it was confusing at first for me, because I'm so about bouncing ideas off in the practice space. Now I'm putting my bass parts under a microscope and almost hyper-focusing on them too much. But then kinda getting used to that and diving into that, I think everybody got to do that in their own way. So it's cool to keep the collaboration in there and come up with your parts more individually.

How does this record sonically and thematically differ from your previous work?

Kyle: I love that question. Sonically, I'm gonna say it's cleaner or better. I don't know, it's just better! [laughs]

Malia: I think thematically, the album is more of a whole. There's a bigger picture for the entire album that I feel like I can talk about and explain. The World You Want To See had some themes that went through and in and out of it but didn't feel cohesive thematically. Going back to our first EPs and the last album, I've always thought my songwriting is an evolution of my emotional and spiritual development. I was diving into who I am and my thoughts about my spirituality and psychology on this record. They all kind of tied together and had a lot of symbolism to me, and I can reflect different things throughout it, and that's kind of fun to think about. Sometimes it gets hard to talk about because I'm like, "Oh, this thing relates to this and this and this," and then I'm trying to explain it without going all over the place, but it really is kind of all over the place.

This album does sit in a place that feels very personal and relatable. Can you talk a bit more about the symbolism of the album and the more spiritual aspects?

Malia: Our last record was very, well, it's called The World You Want To See, so it's about the world, but this album is very moon symbolic. One of the moon symbolism things that reflects on the album is how the moon is a reflector of the sun's light, and it's kind of a part of the Earth, but it's apart from the Earth, so that's kind of like our relationships with people who are a part of us, but also, not us totally. They reflect who we are, and this gets into all the psychology stuff that I was getting really into during quarantine. I think a lot of it does have to do with your relationships with other people and how that helps you better understand who you are because you're reflecting and projecting yourself onto other people. Examining that and then reflecting on that helps you better understand yourself. 

So it's like the moon, which is constantly changing even when we don't notice it, parallels our own development. Because sometimes, we don't see how much we change or go through our own "moon phases" until we take a second to realize just how much we've changed.

Malia: Yeah, and it's amazing that you said that because I wrote this track-by-track analysis of all the songs, and I kept coming up with more things and seeing how each of the songs fit together and looking back on them. I'm like, "Oh, this is what I learned from this experience," and I think, "Oh, I see how this all comes together," because, at the moment, it was just an individual song experience that became a whole thing.

What song are you most excited to hear when the record is out?

Malia: I want to say that the one I'm most excited about is "Spiral Through." It's definitely a standout because it's so different since it's a short, acoustic track. The spiral is a significant symbol in this album too, because that was this wild symbol in my life, especially when I was writing a lot of the songs. It just kept showing up in nature and in what I was reading, and it felt really meaningful, and I like it as a symbol of transformation. How would I explain it? I feel like it's what the album is in one little track.

Like it's the spirit of the album?

Malia: Definitely.

Kyle: My personal favorite is "Where Does It Go?" I can't wait for people to hear that, and I can't wait to play live either! But, I feel like the band's favorite, when we practice, is "Nurture." We all really enjoy that one.

Jason: Yeah, I really love "Nurture."

Was there one song or section that you struggled with or felt like it took maybe a little longer than you expected to form it into its fullest potential?

Jason: Definitely! "Here And There." I had a part for basically every song on the LP except "Here And There." I wrote it the day before I had to track it, and I basically stayed up until four or five in the morning and had to be in the studio at like eight or nine and then just busted it out. Stressful, very stressful.

Kyle: I think for me, it was "Autonomy." I came in with a bass part in mind, and then I lay down a take, and Justin [Abel], our engineer, said something like, "Dude, it's great, but I don't think it's the bass part for this song," or something like that. So I was like, "Oh, shit, okay, here we go," but it worked out!

Malia: It was totally "Lunation," the closer, but that was in the writing period. I started writing it before there was even talk of another album, and I just remember when I started writing it, it was a new moon, and I was creating a new song, and I just could not. I just could not finish it, so I just put it away, and then I think I was re-inspired on the next new moon to take it back out and try and work on it, and I feel like that happened for three or four months. It became my ritual where I would be like, "Alright, new moon. I'm gonna go back to the song," and then at some point, I kind of wanted to relate it to all the phases of the moon, so I feel that helped me learn more about the symbolism of each phase of the moon. I was able to direct my energy to help finish the song, knowing what each part was gonna be about.

What else do you do when you encounter writer's block?

Jason: I basically listen to the song without the guitar part in my car or wherever I go. I'll just listen to it and try to develop a part, and I'll do that thing where I'll sit in front of my computer and track and just delete it if I don't like it. Then, I'll track something else, delete that just over and over again until I'm happy with it or until I get frustrated, and just take that to you guys. Then it's either I work on it or sit on it.

Kyle: Yeah, let us be the judge. [laughs]

Jason: Basically! [laughs]

Kyle: I like to walk away from it for at least 12 hours, maybe a whole day. Literally, just get it out of my life for a little bit and then come back fresh.

Malia: Yeah, just leave it alone.

What makes for a great creative collaborator?

Malia: Someone who's a good mix of knowing what we're about, but also has their own vision where they can kind of-- I feel like we're pretty lucky. Most of the people we've worked with have understood what we're about and get the style that we go for, whether it's art or working with our producer Justin [Abel]. They know, and they can just kind of go in hard and bring a lot to the table, and that is what we need and isn't going in hard on something that we aren't about.

I know you have a headlining tour lined up for 2022 with Ridgeway and Salt Creek! If you could play anywhere tomorrow, where would you play?

Jason: Chicago. I just love that city. It's great. That was the second to last show before pandemic kind of wiped our tour away. It was just a good time. I just really enjoy big cities like that, and it's fun.

Kyle: That was at Subterranean!

Malia: Yeah, it was, and we're playing there in March!

Which song are you most excited to play live?

Malia: I'm kind of stoked to play "Digging Myself Out." That song hits kind of hard. Also, I always felt like "Flower Moon" might get people moving.

Kyle: Yeah, I think "Flower Moons" isn't a sleeper, but it's a curveball, you know? It still goes off, but it takes a second. So I'm excited to play "Embers" live for sure.

Jason: Can I say all of them??

Kyle: Honestly though, yeah, all of them!

Check out Glacier Veins' latest album Lunar Reflection and be sure to catch them on tour this spring.

Upcoming Tour Dates 3/14 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Beehive 3/16 – Colorado Spring, CO @ Vultures 3/17 – Lincoln, NE @ The Bay # 3/18 – Rock Island, IL @ Skylark # 3/19 – Chicago, IL @ Cobra Lounge # 3/20 – Milwaukee, WI @ X-Ray Arcade # 3/22 – Detroit, MI @ Sanctuary # 4/1 – Fullerton, CA @ Programme Skate & Sound ^ 4/2 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Offbeat ^ 4/3 – Fresno, CA @ Tioga Sequoia Brewing Co. ^ 4/4 – Oakland, CA @ Elbo Room Jack London ^ 4/8 – Tacoma, WA @ Real Art ^ 4/9 – Portland, OR @ Polaris ^ 4/16 – Salem, OR @ Infinity Room

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HDRI view, for 3d scenes, is shown an example of a different exposure. Excellent quality, large size. In zip folder: HDR and PSD formats.

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