Anybody familiar with Hail The Sun will know there’s always a great deal of meaning beneath the surface. Theirs are songs that probe the very nature of existence, that strive to find the answers to the fundamental questions that being human raises, and that don’t flinch away from any form of self-reflection whatsoever. That’s been the case since the band—lead vocalist Donovan Melero, guitarists Shane Gann and Aric Garcia, bassist John Stirrat and drummer Allen Casillas—formed in Chico, CA in 2009, but which is especially the case on cut. turn. fade. back., their seventh full-length. Indeed, even for a band whose album titles veer between being suggestive of something more and existentially profound, this record truly goes the distance, encompassing the complete cycle of life with its four monosyllabic words.

“The album touches on a lot of topics such as military atrocities, humanitarian crises, addiction and love being lost, as well as death,” says Garcia. “So many of those things are recurring, and as much as we’d like for things to change and be better and live in a perfect world, it’s more that things seem to get better for a little bit and then take a turn—and before we know it, we’re right back where we started.”

For the first time in their career, Hail The Sun worked with production outfit Beach Noise, whose experience is much more steeped in the hip-hop world—most notably, they worked on a good chunk of Kendrick Lamar’s acclaimed 2022 album.