HEAD WITH WINGS DIG DEEP ON DEBUT
Connecticut pair tackle kidnappings and school shootings on first full-lengther.
US duo Head With Wings release their debut album From Worry To Shame independently on June 1.
The nine-track recording touches on a number of deep and personal themes, including the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012, as well as the kidnap and murder of vocalist and guitarist Josh Corum’s cousin, Meredith Emerson, four years prior.
“I guess the concept started to become clearer as we were living our lives, and as things happened in the world around us,” says the musician.
“The synopsis for the conceptual side of the album is about a man who’s pretty much unknowingly destroying his own family before society takes them away from him. There’s a bit of me in the protagonist, I guess, but there’s also a lot of people that I’ve been influenced by in my life, for better or for worse.
“There’s a good dose of reality, but there’s also a bit of fiction to give it a bit more depth.”
Head With Wings, who are completed by fellow guitarist Brandon Cousino, channel the musical landscapes of modern-day proggers such as Steven Wilson, Karnivool and Radiohead. From Worry To Shame draws together these influences to create a unique new sound that’s both dark yet upliftingly melodic too.
“I pretty much started playing guitar because of the music I was hearing from Steven Wilson, Mikael Åkerfeldt and Radiohead,” Corum says. “There’s definitely a lot of that, but then I went backwards in time and got more into the more classic progressive music. I ended up working my way back to more modern times, and maybe taking a bit of 90s hard rock and fusing that with the fidelity side of the progressive genre. When you have the dirt and the grime of hard rock, and you fuse that with the forward-thinking notions of prog rock you get something that’s a bit haunting and unsettling, but in kind of a pristine way.”
With a debut full-length record now in their arsenal, it looks like the only way is up for Head With Wings.
“This album took years to make,” Corum adds. “It’s been five years since our first EP Living With The Loss, and I think that’s been fuelling the fire to really make sure that this album gets out there.” CC
“I started playing guitar
because of Steven Wilson,
Mikael Åkerfeldt and Radiohead.”