All Souls Post “Poison the Well” Lyric Video; Ghosts Among Us Out Now
Yeah, it’s another All Souls post, but while we’re here, let me just say that I don’t understand why more bands don’t do precisely this. The band released their third album, Ghosts Among Us (review here), like a week and a half ago, and they have a new lyric video up for a song from it.
Doesn’t seem that difficult, right? It’s put together by bassist/backing vocalist Meg Castellanos, uses found footage, etc.; nothing so fancy as the clip for “I Dream” (posted here) that came out before the release, or even “Roam” (posted here) with its shot-on-tour manipulated desert scenes (also by Castellanos), but it’s there. It’s something else to promote the record after the release. I feel like so many bands do a huge push leading up to something coming out, then release week happens and it’s this whole big thing and countdowns and this and that, and then they go to ground, like the promotional work is done. There are times where you can see it just stops.
I guess that’s fine if it’s how you want to roll, but if you’re wondering why all the sales happened first week, that might be it. Something like this, it’s just more momentum after the release. All Souls aren’t necessarily going to hit the road for a two-month stretch across the US, either, so it’s all the more important for them to keep their name out there. It’s just kind of the reality of what making and promoting rock and roll is today without the major label infrastructure behind it. Everybody’s punk rock now, except to be properly DIY you have to engage with a shit-ton of wretched and corporate social media. Don’t ask it to make sense.
Either way, I’m happy to have another excuse to post about Ghosts Among Us. Even as All Souls songs go, “Poison the Well” is moody, and the video is suitable for Halloween week in terms of imagery and its bleak lyrics. It’s an earned-feeling melancholy from guitarist/vocalist Antonio Aguilar, and markedly relevant in lines like, ‘The genocidal mind/Dehumanizes darker hues/And those of different kinds.” If I need to mention encroaching fascism in every post, so help me gawd, I will. But that anxiety is here, and reasonably so.
I’m not what the situation is with the band’s lineup at this point. Over the summer they were cruisin’ as a four-piece with Alice Austin (also Black Sabbitch) included on guitar/vocals, but this video from about two weeks ago (filmed by Mariana Fiel of High Priestess) shows them again as a trio. Maybe Austin just couldn’t make it that night? I don’t know. But if they try to chase down another guitarist, you’d have to say you get it, considering the complexity of what’s going on in the six-string department across the span of Ghosts Among Us. In any case, one wishes the band no/low drama.
They’ll head up to the Pacific Northwest for a few shows this month, and you’ll find those dates listed below, along with the video info and the album stream from Bandcamp, because if I haven’t gotten the point across yet, I think this record rules.
Enjoy:
All Souls, “Poison the Well” lyric video
Lyric video from the album Ghosts Among Us. Video by Meg Castellanos. Music by All Souls. Song recorded by Eddie Rivas at Total Annihilation Studios in Los Angeles, produced by Alain Johannes.
All Souls live:
Nov 10 Knucklehead Hollywood Los Angeles (LA), CA
Nov 13 Bottom of the Hill San Francisco, CA
Nov 16 High Water Mark Portland OR*
Nov 17 The Plaid Pig Tacoma WA*
Nov 18 Clock-Out Lounge Seattle, WA*
Nov 19 Mcfiler’s Chehalis Theater Chehalis, WA*
* with Githyanki
All Souls on Ghosts Among Us:
Antonio Aguilar: Guitar, Vocals
Meg Castellanos: Bass, Vocals
Tony Tornay: Drums, percussion
Alain Johannes: Guitar, Keyboard, Vocals
All Souls:
Antonio Aguilar: Guitar, Vocals
Meg Castellanos: Bass, Vocals
Tony Tornay: Drums, percussion
Alice Austin: Guitar, Vocals
