Chicago’s Cold Country will celebrate the release of the Fall EP with a show at The Hideout

Hey friends, it’s Sean McConnell from Cold Country here! So glad I could join y’all today. Here you will come to know all my greatest fears, achievements, and the story of my upbringing as it began on the day I was born…

Kidding!

I think I’ll just tell you about what I’ve been working on these days. Cold Country is about to release its “Fall EP,” and we have a release show at Hideout Inn on November 19th. Some of these tunes took awhile to see the light of day, so we’re very excited to share them with you.

This newest release is meant to be a direct follow-up to our full length, Willow, which we released in April of this year. There were a number of songs that just didn’t make the final cut, for one reason or another, and I thought it’d be nice to give some of them their due… and really, the Fall EP is all about getting back to Willow.

It [Willow] took awhile to finish. Definitely a lot longer than the material I had put out before it. I mean I really mulled it over at times. And I think that’s because it was my first true attempt to create something cohesive; something sonically vast. I’m an “album guy.” That is, I’ve never been that into playlists or mixes, or even just songs on their own. It’s always been about “The Artifact” for me; The Concept. A great album will take you somewhere when you listen to it. It’ll change your life. It’ll say all the things you’d want to say or it will speak to you in a way that nothing or anyone ever has. It’s a documentation of a time and/or a state of mind. My own personal history can be traced by the albums I was obsessed with at any given time. Because whether I was ever high or low, there was an album that saw me through it. Like a soundtrack to my story. And ever since I began making music myself, I have always wanted to make something like that.

The process of trying to create such a thing is at times rewarding, and also disenchanting. Willow was indeed both. You can probably hear some of that in there…but I get behind it! The album means a lot to me.

The Fall EP is me looking back at Willow and giving a little wave, or a nod. It’s the coda! And I’m eager to move on to the next piece…so stay tuned!