Silence -The Countdown’s Begun

Out April 20th, 2019

The Countdown’s Begun is a peace punk record about endings. Simultaneously anthemic and ominous, its songs are situated squarely in the contemporary political moment without being excessively topical. The lyrics deal with climate change, gentrification, toxic masculinity, and the threat of nuclear war, but mostly through the lens of the personal alienation experienced by people living through these dark times rather than as a political tirade. It is a warning, and it is a meditation on what we’ve lost. Mourning without accepting defeat, it is also a battle cry. The Countdown’s Begun was recorded during a blizzard at the end of 2018 in America, and that’s what it sounds like. It is a soundtrack for this bleak era.

This is the second LP from Pittsburgh’s Silence, following up on 2016’s The Deafening Sound of Absolutely Nothing (Profane Existence), and it reflects a band that has matured considerably in their songwriting. The record incorporates a much broader range of influences into their post-punk meets peace punk style. Apparent on this LP are melodic sounds derived from the likes of Billy Bragg and the Jam, aggressive riffs and gang vocals that invoke Conflict and the Sex Pistols, and more angular and dark elements reminiscent of Xmal Deutschland, early New Order, and Gang of Four.  They’ve been called dark punk, peace punk, anarcho-punk, goth punk and post-punk, but whatever you call them, Silence is equally at home playing a punk show in a smoky dive bar or basement with hardcore punk bands, or at a goth show under colored lights and fog machines.

Digital version available here.

Silence:
Dusty Hanna--Vocals
Damon Di Cicco--Guitar
Ryn Kaz--Bass/vocals
Justin “Punky” Bowen--Drums
Piano on “Ghost of Bakunin” by Greg Murray
Guest vocals by Erica Scary, Aaron Grey, Matt Ussia, Greg Murray, & Clint Benjamin

The Countdown’s Begun (Play Alone Records/Profane Existence, 2019)

 Lyrics:
Soundtrack to The Picture of The Same Name

Why in movies do actors always say “that’s interesting?”
Are actors only interested when in the cinematic setting?
Where the detective floats through the dark of an alley
Past assorted underworld personalities
Entering the inescapable possibility that you are and I would board the same train
In lieu of responsibility we decide to play the blame game
Soundtrack to the picture of the same name
We chalk it up to coincidence
And life just being like that sometimes I guess
Ever seem some props are out of place and don’t make sense?
I know it sounds crazy but I think it’s me behind the lens
I think I think that something’s wrong
Maybe I’m dead and my mind’s still hanging on
How could that be? Well you see, that depends
I’ve seen the movie but can't remember how it ends
The inescapable possibility of you and I boarding the same train
In lieu of responsibility we decide to play the blame game
Soundtrack to the picture of the same name
The devil and I were down on Berkowitz and Vine
We took a glimpse inside the city’s artificial mind
Inside the minds that think, inside the hearts that love
Into engines of oppression, greased by human blood
We gazed into the abattoir as beasts suffered in pain
We heard the soundtrack to the picture of the same name
It was a different time, a different place in those days back then
When we werewolves living in the world of men
The inescapable possibility that you and I could board the same train
In lieu of responsibility we decide to play the blame game
Soundtrack to the picture of the same name
Tarzan’s son and I were swinging from a vine
We took a glimpse inside the jungle’s psychotropic mind
Vacation time, he asked the missus “what’s the verdict?”
Slam dancing at the Idlewood, sunbathing in the arctic?
Without her makeup though, he could no longer see her
Her ghost was a reflection of life in the urban arena
The soundtrack is the sound of an atomic bomb
And a scream into the wind, “where has everybody gone?”
The inescapable possibility that you and I would board the same train
In lieu of responsibility we decide to play the blame game
Soundtrack to the picture of the same name

Photo by Em DeMarco

Photo by Romero Cervantes

All songs by Silence
Recorded by My War Matt
Mastered by Mammoth Sound Mastering
Cover illustration by Chris Smith
Layout by Aaron Grey
Back cover photo by Em Demarco
Silence logo by Chris Smith
Clock drawing by Shannon Thompson

Similar Peace Punk Bands: Flux of Pink Indians, The Mob, Subhumans, & Zounds

Check out our other releases here.