Fearlessly heartfelt and inspired by the very location where the songwriter’s own father’s ashes were laid to rest – Stag on the Cliff is an empowering and immersive instrumental composition, with a multitude of distinct moments of evolution and shifting dynamic that consistently hold tight to your attention.
Featuring a progressive metal pace and presence intermittently, alongside a more dreamy guitar sound that naturally lets these moments of thoughtful reflection and nostalgia pierce through the airwaves, Stag on the Cliff is a boldly emotional, often euphoric, occasionally heart-breaking ode to the seemingly impossible process of healing from unimaginable trauma. It also marks an unmissable introduction to all things EIGHTS and FOURS.
As detailed in his blog post about the song, Stag on the Cliff is the first single from the upcoming album from EIGHTS and FOURS, entitled The Luminal Spaces.
Songwriter Sean Rooney is a Marine Corps veteran who served in the Iraq war. Having spent many years post-deployment attempting to process the weight of his experiences, Sean sadly lost his father – his original musical guide – and realised that ‘grief has no language’. His only option was to return to the embrace of creativity and the guitar, and in doing so, the emotional depth and poetic humanity of Stag on the Cliff was born.
Coming in at a purposefully extensive five minutes and twenty nine seconds, Stag on the Cliff takes its time to build up a distinct and powerful instrumental story and aura. We begin with delicate guitar picking, soon evolving through the more metal-influenced power and presence of the EIGHTS and FOURS sound. A strong groove, distortion and melody, all united across a progressive dynamic that’s both impassioned and rhythmically addictive.
The pace gathers fierce momentum towards the second quarter, the guitar riff freshened once more and a touch of something punk-rock-like emerging in these new power chords. It’s an explosive but evocative route, a pathway committed to the healing process of dealing with trauma from the Iraq war, and the inescapable grief of losing a parent, and it makes for a truly consuming, enchanting, and deeply moving listening journey.
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