A Beautiful Curse from Crying Vessel, AKA multi-instrumentalist and producer Slade Templeton, is a coldwave/darkwave, John Carpenter film soundtrack-vibed monster! It’s the latest release from Templeton under this particular moniker and it’s definitely his deepest and darkest record to date.
The production is warm and fuzzed in that analog way, but also as clear and sharp as crystal. The songs mesmerize and take the listener to the darkest, but most exhilarating places. In anticipation of this release, which will drop via Manic Depression Records on October the 13th, Templeton unveils details about A Beautiful Curse and shares some of his favorite moments.
“Empty Glass”:
“I wrote this song to talk about the fact love can prevail and solve most anything, but also realistically, can cause the most harm. Love for another person. Love for drugs. It’s endless. However bad things get, there is a chance to be happy (or sober). You just have to push for it and find it. Happiness is a choice in most cases, believe it or not. Ultimately you have to believe in yourself. Love for yourself and love for others will be what can help you transcend.”
“Killing Time”:
“This song is not about killing people or killing anyone. Just to be clear!! I mean, of course this is partially inspired for my love for horror, as most all of my music is, but this also runs much deeper. “Killing Time” is about keeping yourself busy while the bad things fall away. Being numb while looking for a brighter time ahead and standing still while this happens. Dark times too, shall pass. When destruction or sadness comes over us, we have to do something to get better or we can all just waste away (and most likely will waste away). Killing time and keeping busy is one of the best ways humans can cope with these types of events or through recovery from sad things happening around us. Time tells all, and killing more of it will let your wounds heal.”
“Kiss The Fire”:
“This song was written actually after we started rehearsing the rest of the album. I signed on with Manic Depression Records and they wanted another couple of tunes so I wrote this (and “Lovers in Paradise”). So it is much more ‘stage’ driven than the other entirely ‘studio’ songs.
The song is about what much of the world is dealing with right now with the scare of nuclear war and the whole presidential situation and our fear of it all driven by the media. Ironically, we actually rehearsed in a WWII fallout shelter here in Switzerland! So I was thinking about if this was to actually happen… two political powers throw their childish hissy fits and push the big red button, what would we do? Could we really handle just sitting in a concrete ‘prison’ waiting for the (possible) green light to return to the surface, or would you just say f*ck it and go out and face the flames? It’s really hard to imagine what we would do. Fight for survival in this messed-up world or stay sheltered and waste away. The chorus “The night’s on fire, we are all the same, the nights on fire, so inhale the flames” is directly referring to the fact we are all human… We all should love one another because we are, in fact, all the same… yet.. if this did happene… we have to face the repercussions of our actions and the human condition.”
“The Second Sleep”:
“This song wasn’t just randomly put at the end of the album for nothing. The whole album’s flow is purposely placed and thought out for the entire storyline of someone’s life… covering love, death, hope, sadness, and ultimately, recovery. This song is about recovery and breaking free from the hurt and pain. Mainly coming from addiction recovery; but also about any bad times we go through as people. The line “You’re breaking free from all of these chains” is meant to deliver where you are at in the album and getting over the past, and finally being done with it all. You may have to hit rock bottom before it can happen but you CAN and WILL prevail and it will all get better now. We grow and heal. It’s never the end.”
