Angst and Loss in New Blood: A Reflection on Rise to the Sky — “Two Years of Grief”

When I was younger, I was told that there’s a saying that all Chileans, like salmons, will return to their place of origin and eventually die. Although odd, I found this saying to be somewhat endearing: salmons do a salmon run, where they swim back against the current to spawn, and then they die, restarting the salmon life cycle. To compare Chileans with salmons is quite the stretch, but this idea – someone reaching the end of their life and new life spawning – brings me to Chilean band Rise To The Sky’s seventh full-length, Two Years of Grief.

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Album Review: Rise To The Sky – “Every Day, A Funeral”

rise to the sky - every day a funeral

Ah, yes, summer: the weather is starting to get hot, days are longer, and irritability is the name of the game. As we approach the hot summer months, it’s almost a blessing to find that there are other countries approaching the arduous winter months. To this end, I have to give Chile props: there is something in its weather that leads to the yearning and romanticism of sadness and melancholy. Whether it is because of our corta venas nature or a sign of the times, we all have heeded the call of the void, but refuse to submit to it. It’s in this feeling and temporal space where Rise To The Sky presents their fifth album, Every Day, A Funeral, straddling the line between tension and levity.

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