"Like a prairie train in the night, the songs of Graven continue to chug on. Sometimes, the haunting words and melodies are noticed like a shrill, distant cry of the steam-whistle through countless fields of wheat, but other times, the notes and somber themes vanish without a trace into the night. Feel Real leaves a stain on the soul that will not be forgotten..."
-Will Dunham, Electrolight
A year and a half after the grandiose Zenith The Meadow, Graven has a new burnt offering for the musical deities.
Feel Real is Graven's most interpersonal work to date and is stripped back to the bones and the blood of the songs. Abandoning characters and storytelling, the album deals with real themes of loss, innocence, spirituality, depression, hurt, love and longing in Matt McKechnie's life.
Often, Graven's records have a healthy distance between the songwriter and the listener and deal with sweeping themes and conjured characters, but this is one of the first Graven records that features Matt's songwriting in an authentic and candid manner.
The album features a lot of new acoustic-based material, mixed with some stomp-folk tracks that were part of a never-released EP called 'Cottage Rock' that featured the backing instrumentation of Matt's pals Ben Gresik and Brendan Lorimer.
The songs of Feel Real are sure to draw the listener in, slow down the racing mind and offer insight and Matt's unique personal reflection on ideas that are quite often passed over all too quickly in this speedy life.
Feel Real is being released solely on the digital platform of Bandcamp, and one track will be posted per week until the album is completely done. To have a listen, click here.