Alexisonfire's remarkable return continues today with Sans Soleil, the moving new single from forthcoming album Otherness. Now in an exclusive in-depth video above, guitarist/vocalists Dallas Green and Wade MacNeil reveal the band's new spirit of deeper collaboration that was central to the song's creation.
An intensely personal song that Wade built inside Dallas's musical outline, Sans Soleil was originally penned to be sung by the former musician. But it was actually his suggestion for Dallas to take the main vocal part on the track.
"That was a beautiful moment… where Wade had written this beautiful song about something personal to him and he was allowing me to sing and be the voice to hopefully allow people to relate to it," explains Dallas.
"When you've got Dal in the band, you let him sing the sad song," laughs Wade.
It's my experience but it's an Alexis song. It's for all of us – for everyone
Wade MacNeil
It's this willingness to let the song dictate the Canadian band's roles in its creation and performance that typifies Otherness.
"I think we would have found it odd, maybe even said we found it odd, writing stuff in the past that had been personal to other people," continues Wade. "Singing for someone else, or speaking for someone else, the experience seemed disjointed. But it really doesn't [now] and with this you're really trying to put something out to connect with people and share something. It's the band putting it out… it's a team win. It's my experience but it's an Alexis song. It's for all of us – for everyone."
I feel like the collaboration on this record is the thing I think about most when I think about the record
Dallas Green
One for the band's greatest strengths has always been that with its guitarists and vocalist George Pettit, it has three distinct singers to deliver those songs. The new openness in the creative process utilised it like never before as they produced Otherness themselves in a roughly a week.
"I feel like the collaboration on this record is the thing I think about most when I think about the record," adds Dallas. "It's how we were able to remove all the walls of ego and past shit that you have with people that you've grown up living in a van with. Things that you cannot avoid by being around people this long and sharing this ridiculous thing that we share with one another. But removing all of that and literally just posing it to everybody, 'What do we think is the best move for this song? Me, you… him?'
Now Sans Soleil finds the band taking its dynamic to a new level with beautifully layered vocal harmonies.
"I think the cool thing too with this song, sonically Wade allowed me to sing the lead and then I was able to build all those harmony parts for George and Wade," notes Dallas. "We could become the screaming Eagles."
We like the sound of that!
Stream Sans Soleil here. Otherness will be released on 24 June via Dine Alone Records – preorder here.
Alexisonfire will headline Slam Dunk Festival on 3 and 4 June at Leeds Temple Newsam and London's Hatfield Park.
