SYML Announces Debut Album; Shares New Song
February 14, 2019 BY Nettwerk
Seattle based artist and producer SYML (aka Brian Fennell)announces his eponymous debut album will be released on May 3rd, 2019. Today, he shares his new single “The Bird,” a song that pushed SYML to explore his abilities as a producer/artist as he mixes his signature vocals with dark melancholic guitar tones and driving beats.
Speaking about “The Bird” Fennell explains, “Trying to love or even understand someone with all of their beautiful flaws and intricacies, while we cope with our own, is not easy. It is as delicate and cold as it is proud and belligerent. ‘The Bird’ represents this surreal dance. If we are too gentle, it might get away. But if we hold on too tight, we might suffocate it.”
LISTEN & SHARE “THE BIRD”:
Focusing on the things that matter is how Fennell writes and records under his alias. Simplicity is what moves SYML – pronounced “simmel,” it means “simple” in Welsh. A child of a closed adoption, Fennell only discovered his Welsh roots as an adult shortly before naming the project. Recorded in his basement studio, 20 miles outside of Seattle, the album was mostly produced by Fennell himself, with additional collaboration with Mark Ralph (Years & Years, Clean Bandit) on “Wildfire” and Chad Copelin on four songs including the lead single “Clean Eyes,” (currently #27 on the Alternative Radio Chart, and has spent 7 weeks in Germany’s Top 100 main radio chart).
Mixed by Grammy award winning engineer Joe Visciano (Beck, Adele), SYML by SYML is 12 tracks of transcendent and emotional dream-pop, synth-rock, and cathartic, uplifting emotion.
Speaking about making the album he says, “Honestly, I didn’t think SYML would grow to a place where a full album would be needed or wanted. I had just planned to write and release singles. In some ways it feels easier and cleaner to have disjointed meanings in songs. But somewhere buried between trying to be an extrovert and an introvert is who I am as both a person and artist. All of these songs were written in this same place. Feelings like joy, hurt, fear, unknown, and peace aren’t simple, but they are familiar to everyone, which makes it feel safe to be honest about them.”
Additional album standouts including “Bed,” “Girl” and “Connor” touch upon reflections on fatherhood, family and overcoming hardship. The album also includes breakout single, “Where’s My Love,” which has over 300 million combined streams and over 20 placements and is Certified Gold in the Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium and Platinum in Canada.
SYML is currently on tour with Australian singer-songwriter Dean Lewis. The tour launched earlier this week with two sold-out shows in Los Angeles at the El Rey and wraps in Dallas at Trees on March 13th. He also just released an 80’s nostalgic remix of “Clean Eyes” by The Midnight. Listen here.
SYML Track List:
- Clean Eyes
- Wildfire
- Bed
- Where’s My Love
- Break Free
- Animal
- The Bird
- Girl
- Connor
- WDWGILY
- Everything All At Once
- Before You Knew It was Me
SYML Tour Dates:
2/12 Los Angeles, CA El Rey (SOLD OUT)**
2/13 Los Angeles, CA El Rey (SOLD OUT)**
2/15 San Francisco, CA The Independent (SOLD OUT)**
2/18 Seattle, WA Crocodile Café (SOLD OUT)**
2/19 Vancouver, BC Imperial Ballroom (SOLD OUT)**
2/20 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom (SOLD OUT)**
2/22 Salt Lake City, UT Metro Music Hall **
2/23 Boulder, CO Fox Theatre (SOLD OUT)**
2/25 Minneapolis, MN Fine Line Music Cafe **
2/26 Chicago, IL Park West **
2/27 Detroit, MI Loving Touch (SOLD OUT)**
3/1 Toronto, ON Velvet Underground (SOLD OUT)**
3/2 Montreal, QC Corona Theatre (SOLD OUT)**
3/3 Boston, MA, The Sinclair **
3/5 Philadelphia, PA The Foundry (SOLD OUT)**
3/6 New York, NY Le Poisson Rouge (SOLD OUT)**
3/9 Washington, D.C. Union Stage (SOLD OUT)**
3/10 Atlanta, GA Terminal West (SOLD OUT)**
3/11 Nashville, TN Mercy Lounge**
3/13 Dallas, TX Trees**
3/14 Austin, TX SXSW
3/15 Austin, TX SXSW
6/29 Werchter, BE Rock Werchter
**supporting Dean Lewis
