The Life You Save

photo by Elizabeth Weinberg

Hello everyone,

My third full-length record as Flock of Dimes, The Life You Save, is officially released today.

To celebrate, here’s the fourth and final video I made with Spence Kelly, for track two of the record: “Keep Me in the Dark.” I generally don’t play favorites, but if I had to pick, this one might be the one. It’s deeply meaningful to me, and I’m so happy it’s finally out in the world.

It’s hard to find the words for what this moment means to me—in many ways because, honestly, I’m still figuring out the answer to that question in real time.

In some ways, I’ve never felt more confused about my place in the world, disconnected from the industry I inhabit and fearful about the future of our species on this planet. With every year that passes I feel more and more out of step with contemporary culture and ill-equipped for what the present moment asks of us. In short—I feel overwhelmed, and old, and so utterly blown apart by the injustice and suffering and heartlessness of the world we live in.

I say this not to elicit pity from all of you nice people—I’m guessing many of you feel quite the same as I do. But I do hope my honesty here will help this next sentiment feel like less of a standard-issue platitude: if you’re reading this, I want you to know how profoundly grateful I am for your support of my work. Whether you’re new here, or have been following my career from the beginning—my very survival in this world is thanks to you. The audience I do have is more than most people could ever hope for, and yet it is certainly not so vast that the ripples of support don’t make their way back to me. I feel them all, even if I don’t have time to respond to every one.

So! I guess I should talk about the record now, huh?

I produced this record myself. It’s twelve tracks long. I believe it’s the best thing I’ve ever made, and it was also the hardest to make. Not necessarily musically—although that was a challenge, too—but personally, emotionally, and psychologically. It’s about codependency, addiction, and generational trauma. It’s about the loneliness of being trapped between two worlds—the one you came from, and the one you’ve escaped to—and the grief of realizing that the only person you can save is yourself.

Musically and otherwise, I couldn’t have made it alone.

This music is what it is because of the following list of people, who trusted in me and lent their unmistakable talents:

Alan Good Parker- electric bass, acoustic, electric and tenor guitars, pedal and lap steel, mandolin, cello

Jacob Ungerleider- piano, synthesizers, pump organ, tenor guitar

Matt McCaughan- drums and electronics

TJ Maiani- drums

Nick Sanborn- synthesizer and modular processing

Adam Schatz- saxophone and electronics

Meg Duffy- acoustic guitar and sustainer guitar

Caroline Shaw- violin

Adrian Olsen- modular processing

Engineered by Adrian Olsen & Alli Rogers

Mixed by Adrian Olsen

Mastered by Huntley Miller

The cover photo is by Graham Tolbert, with additional design by Dusty Simmons and script by Sabrina Nichols.

In addition, I’d like to express my deep gratitude to everyone who’s currently working behind the scenes to help shepherd this record into the world: Thank you to Sub Pop for believing in me, and to everyone at The Glow for working tirelessly on my behalf.

I’m going on tour in less than a month! Please come! These will be the only full-band shows for the foreseeable future. If you buy a ticket in advance you’ll make my day.

Over the course of the next few weeks I’ll be posting some demos, insights, and song-by-song analysis on my Patreon; if you’re interested you can find me there.

No matter what happens from here on out—making this record changed my life. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for listening.

xx

JW