Toronto barrage rock sextet Dearly Beloved has released their latest single, “Trees Dream Of You,” from their upcoming new album, Walker Park released via Sonic Unyon Records.
Discussing “Trees Dream Of You,” songwriter/producer/bassist Rob Higgins called it a battle of ego vs. nature… “the majesty of forests, and their righteousness, to me, is inspiring. If only humanity could be more like a forest.”
The follow-up to 2019’s Time Square Discount, which was written entirely while on the road and recorded in a two-week blitz with Daniel Rey at Dave Grohl’s Studio 606, Walker Park, took shape while Higgins was writing and recording at home in his Phoebe Street studio, to cope with the pandemic. While brutal for all, the lockdown provided never-before-experienced freedom to work patiently and use the studio as an instrument itself, eventually mixing the album with bandmate and Slow Pineapple production partner Tyler Beans.
The sessions delivered thematic ambition, sonic verve, and evocative playing in spades, while never skimping on the scorched-earth riffs Dearly Beloved has become known for. The work and craft that went into the album conveys the deeply weird world in which it was spawned – “Listening back now, the record appears to reflect the absurdity of those times,” notes Higgins.
For the past 16 years, the Beloved’s collision and fusion of pop and hardcore sensibilities, melody, and menace has offered up unabashed stoner rock coiled like smoke around a magma core of psychedelic post-grunge. Walker Park anchors itself in the lessons learned and launches the band on an exciting new trajectory.
“The songs started as super long bass and drum jams I built myself at home,” explains Higgins. “I’d play for like 15 minutes and record it all. Then I’d go looking for good bits. Once whittled into a form, I’d send the song to the band to freak out on.”
Of the 16 finished tracks arising from those sessions, 10 eventually coalesced as Walker Park, with songs selected to reflect the zeitgeist in a cohesive way while also communicating a narrative arc.
A sweaty, noisy mix of rock n’ roll, hardcore, punk, prog, psych, and sludge influences, Dearly Beloved lives to make records and tour. The band has racked up an impressive resumé as road dogs, supporting artists like Swervedrive, Juliette Lewis and the Licks, and Sloan on national tours of Canada, the U.S., and the UK, while collaborating with riff wizards like Dave Catching (Queens of the Stone Age), Chris Gross (Masters of Reality), Patrick Pentland (Sloan), Dave Elitch (The Mars Volta), Dimitri Coates (OFF!, Burning Brides), and Care Failure (Die Mannequin). With extensive global dates in the works for 2023, Dearly Beloved’s rock-solid rep is sure to stand tall in the spotlight with the release of Walker Park.