The Rest – “Always On My Mind” [Free Download]

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The Skinny: Imagine working on a record for well over a year. You’re nearing completion, only to have it disappear, without a trace, or explanation. That’s exactly what happened to The Rest and their album SEESAW.

A “hard drive glitch” deleted every piece of their record. Upon further investigation, they found that their backup drive was missing essential pieces of the puzzle. After a few months of false starts and false hopes, SEESAW eventually found its way to the same company responsible for airplane black box recovery. Almost five months after the process began, The Rest miraculously had their album back, but now the band felt no rush, no pressing reason to move forward until every single one of this opinionated seven-piece were satisfied.

SEESAW is aptly named album in many ways; as well as bouncing the listener back and forth along various sonic and emotional spectra, the name also reflects the drastic ups and downs that took place during the writing, recording and mixing processes. There were many happy accidents and sublime moments along the way, encouraging the band to keep going despite adversity. Perhaps the temporary loss of the album was made more bearable for the band because for them, SEESAW‘s greatest loss had already happened.

SEESAW began under truly tragic circumstances, with the loss of the band’s long-time friend, mentor and producer Dan Achen. Under his patient (and occasionally impatient) tutelage, the band was able to accomplish goals that had originally seemed to be mere pipe dreams. His passing was completely unexpected, and left the group contemplating how they would be able to move forward without him. However, the more they worked on SEESAW, the more they realized that Dan’s influence would still be felt on every note. This was a process that began with him years earlier, and the final product would owe as much to him as any of their own impressions.

The Rest are closing in on the end of a difficult few years, but the album is representative of a band clearly making the best music of their lives. No compromises, no excuses. SEESAW is a record without “what ifs”. It may have taken longer then anyone could have hoped, but the final result is exactly what the band set out to achieve. You could say it was accidentally prearranged that way.