Our eyes are barely dry over the news that Grey Season will be calling it a day after their record release party next month in Allston. But as the initial shock and “awwww” of their impending hiatus — delivered earlier this month when frontman Jon Mills announced he was leaving the Boston folk-pop band — starts to fade, a feeling of appreciation sets in, knowing there will be one final release to add to the Grey Season mystique.
That release is swan-song album Out of the House into the Night, which drops on April 6, the same day as their record release party at Great Scott in Allston. Today, Vanyaland is thrilled to premiere the LP’s first single, “Meet Me In The Middle”, a vibrant alt-rock track that finds the band going out in electric sonic colors.
Out of the House into the Night, which can be pre-ordered here (and pick up the physical copy at the release show), was recorded with Benny Grotto at Mad Oak Studios in Grey Season’s home neighborhood of Allston, and Q Division in Somerville. It features a lot of new components for the five-year-old project, which has played more than 300 shows across New England and beyond, including appearances at South-By-Southwest and Boston Calling Music Festival. Those components include new instrumentation (the addition of accordions, synths, and horns), a revised lineup (bassist Ian Jones takes the lead on several songs, including “Meet Me In The Middle”), and a bit of open-ended promise.
Which does all suggest that the remaining Grey Season members will continue on, in some capacity, under a different name without Mills, something the musician alluded to in his farewell note. While “Grey Season, as we know it, is over,” Mills wrote, he added that “it’s not all doom and gloom ahead of us… While the entity known as Grey Season gets ready to disband, the remaining members of Grey Season may decide to continue in the future. Just because I have decided to leave doesn’t mean that the four incredibly talented musicians I’ve found myself with won’t keep working together. Keep an eye out in the future for any news on their personal projects and possibly a Grey Season 2.0.”
“Meet Me In The Middle” suggests great things are to come from the band’s members (side note: two of them, Ben Burns and Chris “Gooch” Bloniarz have a record release party tonight at Club Passim for their other band, Honeysuckle). However, well worry about Grey Season 2.0 once the dust settles and we’ve properly digested the new record.
In the meantime, listen to “Meet Me In The Middle” below, and scan release show deets after the Soundcloud.
