Far from stymying creativity, the new collaborative approach allowed Mays to forgo the deliberate style of previous releases in favour of something newly curious. The album which resulted from this period is a testament to such a receptivity, the new-era Signs Following sound one open to outside influence to the point where the environment itself bleeds in. “Many of the textures you hear on the album are directly inspired by wildlife,” says Mays. “The hum of insects, rustling leaves, longing coyote calls.” Indeed, the run of singles which will be released to preview the record utilise references to the natural world as prisms through which to explore more complicated themes. As Mays goes on to explain:

“The three animals I chose for the titles are often viewed as pests, but in the album they visit as messengers and guides. I have a career as a wildlife educator, and I’ve found that knowledge often comes from these unexpected sources, radiating up from the natural world rather than being handed down from above. The cicada felt like the perfect symbol of that, crawling out of the earth to sing after years underground. Whatever they’re saying, I think we should listen.”

Today we have the pleasure of sharing this aforementioned track, ‘Cicada’. Rising from gentle beginnings with quiet care, the song possesses all the respect and wonder for the natural world professed above. As though there’s some essential truth in the non-human life unfolding around us, something voiced in the tymbal chorus of the cicada which brings a devotional shimmer to the ambient noise. “‘Cicada’ was the first new song we made together,” Mays continues. “It came to life in one afternoon and guided the sound of the entire record.” The spirit it leads on the record is one without bombast or ostentation, free of any grand statement of fact. Rather, it is one satisfied to reflect the quiet beauty of the world back to us. As Mays concludes: “I don’t know if there are any consistent themes [on the record] beyond being mesmerized by the mystery of being alive.”

Cover art and photo by Tori Vintzel

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The beautifully-shot video, which free space shot and edited themselves, begins in a dark and enclosed art exhibit, Mays and Brown lit only by a celestial light show, projected images of the sun and the moon and distant constellations. This changes just before the minute mark, as the song unfurls and we’re transported into the big wide world, forest sunsets and leafy avenues and panoramic skies, before we’re whizzed back into the walk-in planetarium, as if all that real-world stuff was just a dream.

All this fits really well with the song’s existential overtones, the images knitting together to conjure that very human yearning you might feel when looking at wide open spaces or beautiful things. It’s difficult to put into words but it’s part of the reason why reincarnation holds appeal, something to do with never being satisfied, or constantly being amazed, that desire to be an intrinsic part of everything you ever see or hear about when all you have is your own tiny body and limited nerve endings.

If you haven’t already, head to the Free Space Bandcamp page to download ahead of myself for however much you’re willing to pay.

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ahead of myself begins with ‘glowmont drive’, a lo-fi bedroom pop song with acoustic guitar and the duo’s vocals, possessing the same mellow and sad vibes as Trace Mountains and Fairweather Currents. Brown takes over vocal duties on ‘sleeping in dorms’, with its heady reverberating guitar and dreamily smeared vocals, while ‘trying’ is a downbeat lo-fi song. ‘sororities never liked me’ is another Brown-centric track, with lyrics reflective and honest (“and i’m not a quitter but i’m surely not a winner / you say i’m the latter but i know better / i know you flatter / me with those kinds of words”). Mays and Brown sing together on ‘people’, a pretty little bedroom pop song, before ‘limbic system’ which is gentle and sad, swaddled in buzzing synths that sound somehow quietly transcendental, like lo-fi church organ ringing in simple devotion.

“your studies show
you’re normal but your insides scream otherwise
but sometimes anatomy can’t show
why you can’t feel quite right

a dose of perspective and some animal crackers keep me alive”

‘bible names’ is just soft acoustic guitar and Mays’ & Brown’s vocals, a song about escaping reality, or perhaps trying to find a better one, one where dad doesn’t hit mom, where the lawn isn’t covered in garbage. The repeated chorus line of “show me I’m real” hints at finding solace in another person, that fact of life that company can make the bad things seem better.

“I wish I could collapse like a star/ or maybe just into bed” begins the finale ‘I wish I was plural’, with its warm thick atmosphere that sounds undeniably hopeful. It has the same devotional bedroom pop vibe as Florist’s The Birds Outside Sang and proves a great end to a really nice album.

“now i wish i was grass
now i wish i was leaves
now i wish i was wind
now i wish i was everything
and everything”

You can get ahead of myself on a name-your-price basis via the free space Bandcamp page.

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