New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Americana/folk singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist JEREMY SQUIRES will release his fourth album via Blackbird Record Label and 12th overall album, RIDDLE OF STARS, on November 17. The album was written following the loss of his longtime musical collaborator, drummer and friend,
Carlos Ventura and includes nine heart-stirring songs, including one that was originally written as a poem as a goodbye for his friend's funeral ("Blood Pact"). RIDDLE OF STARS was solely written, performed, and produced entirely by SQUIRES, who utilized carefully crafted minimalism, primarily by way of guitar finger-picking, piano, and the occasional pedal steel guitar or organ to create its haunting dreamscapes along with SQUIRES self-directing and filming a series of visually narrative videos to accompany its singles.
SQUIRES has today, November 7, shared the abstract video for RIDDLE OF STARS' second single, "Vampires."
"This is right up the alley of any fan of stripped down, slow and vulnerable music," proclaims Americana Highways. They continue their praise, highlighting the song's lyrics: "'Oh these vampires tearing at the seams, taking every drop of everything they want from me. Goodnight angel.' Don't underestimate the power of the meaning here, it's dark and intense. Gorgeous outdoor scenes of snowy cold and winterscapes hold your imagination exactly where the song takes you."
SQUIRES reveals his personal connection to the song's inspiration sharing,"'Vampires' is about my struggles with letting go, getting so deep in your own head that you feel like you can't escape from a continuous loop and coming to the realization that nothing is permanent.
Everything comes full circle in the end."
"I shot this video in various locations over the span of 3 years," SQUIRES adds. "I got to meet new people in somewhat awkward circumstances, but it was a very beautiful experience filled with so many emotions. I carefully chose the imagery and edited the colors to match the cold as well as the vibrancy that I see and feel that this song is about."
RIDDLE OF STARS track listing:
1. Valley
2. Blood Pact
3. Play Dead
4. Omens
5. Vampires
6. Carousels
7. Please Stay
8.
Heart Swell
9. Graveyard
SQUIRES consistently holds space for his artistic expression in more than one medium, living and breathing within cycles of poetry, photography and music. As many artists ultimately leave their hometowns to explore larger cities like Los Angeles and New York, SQUIRES' life in the Inner
Banks of North Carolina from childhood has steadfastly served the inspiration for his music.. Raised by his grandmother in New Bern, NC, and the son of a published poet, his mother, and a father that gifted him a flea market guitar when he was a child, SQUIRES began teaching himself to play by way of writing songs and learning
Bad Religion and
Nirvana songs, eventually leading him into forming punk bands.
Jeremy and
Carlos met at age 12 and 13, the beginning of nearly three decades of brotherhood and artistic collaboration. "We were musical soulmates," says SQUIRES. Neither one of them formally trained, the two experimented with bands before officially becoming a professionally touring band, Andrea's Truth, playing shows at venues and skate parks up and down the east coast. In a surprising turn of events, after recording their debut album, the studio burned down with their files. However, fans initiated a network of passing around bootleg VHS tapes from their live shows which in turn secured their mark and influence on a thriving indie punk music scene in their region.
Becoming a father at only age 21, SQUIRES took a job at a faucet factory and paused from touring for several years until he returned in 2005 to his career in music, photography, and restoring vintage guitars. This is when he began learning to record on his own, playing all instruments with
Carlos adding drums on multiple songs throughout his catalogue, unfortunately passing suddenly before being able to track drums for RIDDLE OF STARS.
