Tired Eyes, Waking Hearts by Message to Bears – Stationary Travels

wpadmin2 weeks ago

0 4 1 minute read

English composer and multi-instrumentalist Jerome Alexander is best known through the musical alias Message to Bears, a project which has garnered millions of streams from listeners who are drawn to its delicate and melodic blend of folk, electronic, ambient, post-rock, and neoclassical elements. In recent years, Alexander has worked on a number of film scores, singles, collaborations and reworks, but going into 2025 it had been about six years since the project’s last full-length album.

The promise of something new began with a trickle of singles from winter into spring and finally came to fruition over the summer. Released in July, Tired Eyes, Waking Hearts hearkens back to such seminal works as Folding Leaves and Maps while branching into new sonic territory in a way that should prove quite satisfying for fans both old and new.

While the inventive arrangements and deft touches of studio wizardry give discriminating listeners plenty to dial into and appreciate, it is the infectious melodies, clean guitar lines, and ethereal, layered vocals that really shine while an ensemble of musicians make it soar with strings, horns, clarinet, and percussion and flourishes of lap & pedal steel guitar. The flow of the tracks is important here as well. The album flows beautifully from start to finish with seamless continuity between the tracks and recurring themes tying the songs together in an especially gratifying way.

In recent interviews, Alexander has referred to this as a “deeply personal” one, and that really comes across in a collection of songs that sound both genuinely heartfelt and unabashedly beautiful. Acknowledging the long wait between albums, he thanks his followers for “the time to create new music that I hope feels meaningful in this strange age” and so it does to this listener at least.

Tired Eyes, Waking Hearts is available for download and streaming now via Lost Birds Records. A vinyl LP edition which will begin shipping next month is available for pre-order at the link below. The album was mastered by Guy Davie and notably features artwork & design by Gregory Euclide.