This is the real beginning for us. We put out a first EP just months after we started the band – we love it, but it was mostly just three of us trying to figure out what we wanted,” explains sittingthesummerout’s vocalist Samir Batista, setting the scene for the Italian band’s newly announced sophomore release, ‘Brick and Mortar’; “At this point, after two years, we’ve consolidated a lineup that feels final, and put together five songs that are us in every way. Our feet are glued to the ground, of course, but we do feel we’re onto something.”
‘Brick and Mortar’ is scheduled for release on 1st December via Ghost Factory Records & Arts, and as Batista details: “we built it from scratch; every drop of sweat went into making something we’d be happy with, and we did some work on ourselves in the meantime too.”
Indeed, even the cover artwork is self-made, featuring a cut-up photograph taken by Batista during his return from a year spent abroad in America. The singer divulges: “What we wanted to go with was the concept of putting things back together, or at least starting to.”
The vocalist’s US trip was also the influence for the EP’s lead single ‘Nothing Changes In Baltimore’, which is available to stream here. The first track written upon his return home, it was inspired by a bus journey from New York to Virginia: “We were driving through Baltimore – possibly the gloomiest city on earth in my eyes – when I came to the realization that you can always run from your problems but they’ll never stop following you.”
Hailing from Milan, Batista named the act in 2015, following a difficult Summer, which he reveals “cemented the concept that summer, as a season, wasn’t meant for me.”Completed by Dimitri Sironi and Luca Della Foglia on Guitar, Andrea Daniele on Drums and Cristina Lietti on Bass, sittingthesummerout play a well-crafted, atmospheric take on post-hardcore, blended with vocals that flit between spoken word, frustrated screams and evocative singing, and will surely resonate with fans of Hotel Books, La Dispute and Brand New.
The songs of ‘Brick and Mortar’ cover themes of “rejection and deception, the obstacles we face in life, coming to terms with what goes on, and how to become a better person”, and Batista reveals that each track begins with the foundation of his lyrics and builds into vast soundscapes such as those found on the EP: “Thankfully my bandmates are all great and understand where I want to lead them to, and take the magic of creating the music from there.”
‘Brick and Mortar’ Track Listing: 1. Nothing Changes In Baltimore | 2. It Won’t Rain Forever | 3. Permanence | 4. Dry, Dry June | 5. To Those Concerned