NINE SAINTS IN A HAUNTED HOUSE — THE SPOOKY STORY BEHIND SAN FERMIN’S NEW ALBUM (2019)
San Fermin is a very interesting project band. Its members come and go without affecting the group’s strength which lies in numbers and in the fusion of alternative rock and classical instruments. Led by Ellis Ludwig-Leone the group is going on tour tomorrow (head HERE for dates and tickets) to promote their latest album, The Cormorant. It’s a two-chapter release with part one already out in the daylight and “Saints”, the second single from the record, arrived just at the right time of the year.
In the spirit of Halloween, since it’s around the corner, the story behind bringing this particular creation to life is fittingly creepy. After all, this was the exact message Ellis received in a dream when he was starting the band — to make it creepy. And so the theme continues with The Cormorant. The album was written in a small town in Iceland where on an abandoned fishing dock Ellis kept seeing a pair of black birds every single day for a couple of weeks. And what do cormorants bloody look like? Like omens of death. Naturally, they landed both in the title and on the cover of the album.
The spooky vibes have taken over the single as well, with motifs of death, ghosts and monsters inhabiting the lyrics. Of course, those are merely metaphors aiming at telling a story of long gone friendships, proverbial skeletons in the closet and a relationship which seems to be highly inconvenient for one of the parties (Am I a wasp in your sheets?). Still, the darker atmosphere prevails. In the video we see Claire Wellin, the newest addition to the San Fermin family and the main vocalist in this song, wandering around a somewhat eerie room, other band members lurking in the shadows. The scenery is wrapped up in dim pink, blue and green light, yet, as if to to balance the colors out, it also gives away the haunted house feeling. Sculptures covered in sheets, dark creepy paintings, faded pictures and a little dirt create the perfect setting for a Halloween party.
This slightly delirious ghostly single is my absolute favorite on the 8-track part one of The Cormorant. As of today, the release date of part two has not yet been confirmed but hey, we should count our blessings, right? Half a record is still great. Why has it been split, though? Ellis confirmed that when he was writing the material he saw a very clear middle point in it. Or you know, maybe he just left half his songs in Iceland by accident. Or! Cormorants ate them. Sounds most likely, doesn’t it?
