Federale - Dark Waters
Portland iconic outfit Federale presents 'Dark Waters', a homage to the deathrock of bands like Sisters Of Mercy, Love and Rockets and Echo & The Bunnymen. Showcasing their sixth studio album 'Reverb & Seduction', released by Jealous Butcher Records, this marks their 20th anniversary. Frontman Collin Hegna has also been a member of The Brian Jonestown Massacre for equally as long.
The stark arrangement features chorused 12-string acoustic guitars, electric leads, an unhealthy dose of highly-effected Mellotron and a driving beat to the tale of reaching beyond the veil of death. With the protagonist's plea to his deceased friend to “tell me what you find”, this song describes the narrator's desire to know what lies beyond death. Stylistically, it represents a tangent from Federale's historical musical influences. While previous songs such as 'Blood Moon' and 'Heaven Forgive Me' hinted at these flourishes, 'Dark Waters' dives headlong into them, embracing them fully.
“Dark Waters’ is the heaviest and darkest Federale track to date. It represents the furthest stylistic departure from Federale’s traditional sound on a record featuring many such departures. I fully embraced the 80’s Goth influences that have been creeping into our songs for the past couple years and turned up the chorus pedal to Stun,” says Collin Hegna.
The 'Dark Waters' video was shot at Portland's Coffin Club on Cinco De Mayo 2024 - 20 years to the day of Federale’s first live show! A Goth-themed bar repeatedly voted one of the Top-10 themed bars in the world, its decor is dominated by ephemera representing horror film icons, the macabre, dark music legends, and the occult in general – the perfect setting for this horror-themed video and song.
The video portrays a fever dream of a man losing his mind after receiving an ominous tarot reading, taking inspiration from 80’s slasher films like 'Sleepaway Camp' and Gaspar Noé’s psychedelic nightmare 'Enter The Void'. The main character (Hegna) finds himself bewitched after the reading, entering a drug and booze-fuelled hellscape, which he cannot escape. Uncontrolled hallucinations ensue, involving his very own bandmates. Reality shreds at the corners as he attempts to climb down the venue's stairs in order to perform with his band. Ultimately he abandons his attempts at control and revels in the madness around him, only to wander out of the club a changed man, discovering that it is now daytime… Where did the time go.. And what happened to our protagonist? He will never know.
'Reverb & Seduction' is a 10-track tour-de-force road trip from psych rock to country duets, never straying too far from the spaghetti western roots that inspired the band many blood-moons ago. What began as an homage to those cinematic soundscapes of the Italian 60s has evolved well past those not-so-humble beginnings, with Federale now also drawing from wide-ranging inspirations.
Recorded at Revolver Studios, this album was engineered by Collin Hegna, Matt Thomson and 5-time Grammy award winner Andrew Joslyn. Mixed by Hegna with Thomson and Jeff Stuart Saltzman (The Black Keys, The High Violets), it was mastered by Adam Gonsalves at Telegraph Mastering. The album also involves Portland rock-scene vets from The Dandy Warhols, The Shivas, Roselit Bone, Rogue Wave and Delines, plus members of The Black Angels, Mission Spotlight and Courtney Barnett's Band, as well as Andrew Joslyn (Nancy Wilson, Kei$ha, Macklemore, Mark Lanegan) and Grammy-nominated producer Hunter Lea.
Federale boasts a unique sound, blending a spaghetti-Western soundscapes with moody vocal arrangements in the spirit of Lee Hazlewood and Leonard Cohen. Maintaining a retro vibe, Federale's records have always sounded period-correct for an alternate-universe 1971, where rock and roll never caught on. Earlier, the band shared the singles 'Heaven Forgive Me', 'No Strangers', 'Advice From A Stranger' and 'The Worst Thing I Ever Did Was Ever Loving You' feat. Jenny Don't.
The film industry continues to take notice as well: The band's latest licensing successes include placing tracks in the trailer for the Colin Farrell / Brendan Gleeson vehicle 'Banshees Of Inisherin', as well as in the Kate Hudson thriller 'Mona Lisa & The Blood Moon' and Swiss action/comedy 'Mad Heidi'.
'Reverb & Seduction' is out now on CD and limited edition vinyl, as well as digitally everywhere, including Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal and Bandcamp.
