Waves, released in 2021, marks a deliberate return to the rigorous thematic approach that I explored on Beginning and Beneath. While Beginning analyzed the process of creation and Beneath presented caves as a metaphor for the mind, Waves consists of a single, long-form composition designed to mirror the myriad polarities of humanity’s perception of a monistic reality. These polarities are reflected in the ebb and flow of the piece’s various movements, which shift from quietly foreboding to thunderously dissonant. Unfortunately, however, my heightened focus on structure and form resulted in an uneven record which lacks the organic dynamism that brought my earlier releases to life. Even so, Waves features some of my favorite moments in the entire We Were Ravens discography, such as the ethereal sing-song rhythm that gradually emerges from a looped, reverberated passage of a talk by Richard “Ram Dass” Alpert on the inextricable relationship between mankind and the natural world.

Recorded and released in July 2020, Menhir is a product of the Covid era. It continues Beneath’s trajectory away from traditional musical structures, incorporating a more varied sonic palette and an increased focus on rhythmic looping. I used a much wider array of found sounds and field recordings on Menhir than on earlier albums, sampling everything from fireworks and quadcopter rotors to children’s choirs and guitar feedback. The result is the most varied and chaotic We Were Ravens record to date — a fitting reflection of the pervasive dread and unease of daily life during the pandemic. While Menhir lacks a cohesive thematic framework, its general aesthetic evokes death, decay, and disease.

We Were Ravens began as a minimalist post-rock project in 2009, but had evolved into something far more experimental and texture-driven by the time I released Skies and Beginning a year later. While these two albums, along with XXII, made extensive use of noise and abrasive soundscapes to enhance the compositions, melody and harmonic resonance remained the project’s primary focus. With Beneath, I abandoned the traditional musical elements of those earlier releases entirely in favor of dark ambience and drone. This album consists solely of heavily processed field recordings, resulting in the most minimalist and atmospheric We Were Ravens record to date. Thematically, Beneath revolves around caves as a metaphor for social isolation, depression, and madness.

XXII (read as “twenty-two”) was named after my age at the time of its release, and it is a reflection of one of life’s most tumultous seasons: early adulthood. In the spring of 2012, I found myself newly single, living with my parents, and possessed of a bachelor’s degree which had yet to yield any job prospects. I felt lost and anxious about what might come next, yet hopeful for the endless possibilities ahead; my future was a blank canvas. This shared sense of unease and optimism permeates XXII, from the gentle melodicism of I-I to the ominous dark ambience of II-II. Stylistically, XXII is unique among We Were Ravens releases in its use of piano as the driving melodic element throughout the album. I was fortunate enough to have unfettered access to my parents’ living-room piano during the recording process, which allowed me to make extensive use of an instrument I hadn’t played in years.

Skies and Beginning, the first two full-length We Were Ravens albums, were recorded and released back-to-back over a three-month period in the fall of 2010. Conceived simultaneously with a shared compositional approach, these two records could reasonably be seen as “Side A” and “Side B” of a single album. That said, I stand by my decision to release them separately. These two albums represent a kind of duality: while Skies is heavy, grounded, and physical, Beginning has a more ethereal, almost spiritual quality. Skies is driven by distorted guitars and rythmic noise, whereas Beginning is a more synth-focused affair. Beginning is a meticulously crafted concept album, while Skies lacks a cohesive thematic framework. Despite these differences, however, Skies and Beginning share a unified conceptual ethos and approach to sound design that were foundational to the development of We Were Ravens. Though I’d been tinkering with this project for about a year before beginning work on Skies, it was with these two albums that We Were Ravens began to take shape as a distinctive creative entity.