REUBEN AND THE DARK’S CATHARTIC 4TH ALBUM IS OUT NOW ON ARTS & CRAFTS
LISTEN / SHARE “TRAVELER OF SWORDS” HERE
BUY / STREAM IN LIEU OF LIGHT HERE
Photo Credit: Carly Foulkes // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
Today, Reuben and the Dark’s new LP, In Lieu Of Light, is officially available everywhere courtesy of Arts & Crafts. This collection of songs is as bare and unguarded as any that singer-songwriter Reuben Bullock has offered before. “This album had no expectations put on it, it felt very free of form in a creative way. It is a snapshot of songs I was writing at a particular time, when recording them felt like a necessary letting go,” recounts Reuben. “There was a magic to that experimentation that felt natural to me.”
Recalling the spontaneity of the band’s 2014 debut Funeral Sky, the eleven new songs of In Lieu Of Light are humble and vast, wide open and lonesome, flourishing from the simplicity of gentle piano and guitar – at times favouring the delicate frame of its intimacy, at others conceding to the anthems in its melodies. It is honest heart-based music, what Reuben and the Dark does best – hymnal and cathartic songs that beg the audience’s connection.
LISTEN / SHARE “TRAVELER OF SWORDS” HERE
BUY / STREAM IN LIEU OF LIGHT HERE
In Lieu Of Light was recorded throughout 2021 when the world seemed at an excruciating standstill. Reuben’s pensive lyrics, always known for their environmental resonance, turn more inward on these songs from that period. There is an element of deeply relatable soul-searching at play – perseverance through darkness, grief, escapism, and a subtle celebration of this despair that we have all confronted.
From the meditative mantra of “Read Your Mind” to the wayfinding reflections of “Traveler of Swords,” In Lieu of Light is at once Reuben and the Dark’s most varied yet unified album to date. Bullock’s commitment to a more relaxed mode of songwriting removed one of the few remaining barriers between the band and its inextricably devoted audience. Beginning with the sparse lullaby of “One Two Three,” and bookended by the amorphous beauty of “Little Sunrise,” the album evolves through a sweeping range of emotions with aplomb. At the album’s height, “Wanderer” is freeway folk, with the electric din of guitars and rollicking drums as the getaway vehicle – a self-portrait of the Calgary-bred Joshua Tree-based skateboarding frontman.
WATCH / SHARE “READ YOUR MIND” ALBUM TRAILER
WATCH / STREAM “WANDERER” HERE
Recorded by Graham Lessard in Calgary at OCL Studios, Brock Geiger at Reuben’s studio in Joshua Tree, and Joel Shearer in Los Angeles, In Lieu Of Light finds Reuben in harmony with the studio as his instrument, and the intuitive embellishments of his collaborators. The cumulative, exultant power of his songs, be it shared joy or shared sadness, is perhaps no better reflected than on the three tracks featuring the Kainai-Bloodtribe Bullhorn Singers, a collaboration that Reuben describes as “incredible and heart-expanding.” The reverberant “Timelapse Clouds” pulsates with their rhythmic and vocal accompaniment, elevating the experience of In Lieu of Light to a new level. Reuben shares about the arrival of this record:
“In Lieu of Light has come from a strange and unstable time in life. There are those of us who spend time in the darkness to find the light.. to carry that light.. For everyone. This album is a humble offering of that experience. I believe in the alchemy of emotions and that we can use pain, anxiety, fear and loss to truly feel peace, joy, love and freedom. It is my own way of processing a lot of things happening in the inner and outer spaces of the heart and soul of everything.“
WATCH / SHARE “TIMELAPSE CLOUDS” FT. THE BULLHORN SINGERS HERE
WATCH / SHARE “COMING LIKE A STORM” HERE
WATCH / SHARE “ALL MY FRIENDS” HERE
WATCH AND SHARE “YES” LYRIC VIDEO HERE
MORE ABOUT REUBEN AND THE DARK
Reuben and the Dark is the enrapturing alt folk-rock outfit led by singer-songwriter Reuben Bullock, whose music blends introspective lyrics with soaring instrumentals. Reuben and the Dark's music has been featured in Breaking Bad, Dolittle, The Class, Grey's Anatomy, and many more. The talented Calgary-born Joshua Tree-based singer-songwriter, skateboarder, carpenter, and preacher's son has released three full lengths on Arts & Crafts, and toured with Boy & Bear and Vance Joy.
IN LIEU OF LIGHT - TRACK LISTING
1. One Two Three
2. Wanderer
3. Yes
4. Timelapse Clouds
5. Traveler of Swords
6. Read Your Mind
7. All My Friends
8. Trouble
9. Skin and Bone
10. Coming Like a Storm
11. Little Sunrise
TOUR DATES
Sep 10 - Jasper, AB - Jasper Folk Festival %
% with the Bullhorn Singers
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