A re-introduction of a Silent Years recording session today comes with huge, three-tiered cake and the smearing of it into the smiling face of a lover. It comes with lead singer Joshua Epstein surrounded by all of the most significant people in his and his new bride’s life. The master of the ceremony likely pointed that out – they always do at weddings – asking the couple to turn around and look at all of the people who cared enough to drive or fly all that way and to sacrifice their afternoons and evenings to be there and give the gift of a waffle maker or whatever was on the registry at Target. It’s an emotional occasion to think of a moment in time as the pinnacle of that possibility – the one day when all of the people (or all that are capable) you most love and who mean the most to you are behind you, there for you. It happens just once in life, really, the day is irreplaceable and it chokes you up in a new way. Epstein might be getting that right now, but he’s been playing with the idea for a lot of the past year in Detroit as he and the underrated Silent Years have holed up to write and record their sophomore album, The Globe, due out sometime in the early part of this year. One of the new songs, “On Our Way Home,” seems to be about burying the memories of everyone they’ve ever known in big holes near Sacramento, of all places. They don’t go anywhere though. Those loved ones – all those people – remain and it’s eventually comforting. Epstein describes the premise of the new album, “We were watching the film “Powers of 10,” which they used to show in middle school science classes. In the film, the camera starts out, framed on a couple having a picnic. Every 10 seconds, the field of view expands by a power of ten—the picnic becomes Chicago, Chicago becomes North America, and soon you’re seeing the Earth in the context of its solar system. This got us thinking about the similarities between mankind and all other components of the universe. An atom is to a cell, as a cell is to a man, as man is to the Earth, as the Earth is to the universe, etc.” The band, out of the goodness of their Motown hearts, has made its debut full-length available for free downloading here. This won’t last long and it’s worth it so jump.

Silent Years Daytrotter Session Songs