Cavernlight - As We Cup Our Hands - LP Gatefold

There lies a dark secret deep inside some of the people you meet throughout your life. An illness, a prevailing shadow, or a past of regretful choices. Despite the facade constructed to hide these truths, there is a malaise that takes hold and controls the underlying intent for that person's actions. This is the Stream of Ache. This is the energy that drives ones actions although its source is a place where nothing nourishes.

Cavernlight was born from this stream, covered in the mire that lies at its bed.

Formed in 2006 by Scott Zuwadzhi (guitar, vocals, noise) and Adam Bartlett (drums, vocals), the project was intended to satisfy a need to write atmospheric dark music about the physical nature of existence. This was meant to be something entirely personal. Over the course of the next nine years Zuwadzhi and Bartlett would include others into the fold of the project to share in their misery, playing a small handful of select shows, and in that time welcome Patrick Crawford (guitar) and Brandon Pleshek (bass, synths) as permanent members, helping to define what Cavernlight was always intended to be.

After the release of their demo tape, Corporeal (Anti-Matter Records, 2015), Cavernlight buckled down to write the material for As We Cup Our Hands..., finally deciding to share their introspection with others. That period of writing would evolve into 5 movements detailing a life that is lived suffering through severe, crippling anxiety and the burden of mental illness. They discuss the arduous task of attempting to find truth in the natural world and work through psychological roadblocks, and the realizations one has as they begin to come out the other side and attempt to heal. The Stream of Ache is the source for these songs.

The influences of Cavernlight are numerous and run deeply into different genres, but ultimately all of them have one thing in common… pain and suffering prevail. Whether they be doom, black metal, noise, dark post-rock or even inspiration from beloved singer-songwriters that have since been put to rest and whose sadness lives on eternally, each source of inspiration deals with a fundamental hurt. On this debut full length Cavernlight have finally found a comfortable, mature balance between their influences, inspiration, and intended narrative. Using these elements they have crafted an album of miserable doom laced with harsh tones and heart-piercing melodies. There is no positive redeeming quality in this album, except that it is complete, and it no longer requires emotional energy.