Early in 2020, an article was released declaring that the music industry needed more happy songs. As Martin Earley and Calin Peters recall, they laughed while reading it, knowing that their work as The Ballroom Thieves explores the spirit of that paradigm. Well, sort of…they're not interested in easily defined worldviews.
"We read that article and thought, 'how are we supposed to write happy songs right now?'" says Earley. "We don’t write happy songs, but this time we decided to try something new by pairing optimistic sounding music with dark lyrics. If the listener is not a lyrics person, they might not notice."
The Ballroom Thieves' fourth album, CLOUDS, is a song cycle born of mixed experiences and fueled by the power of imagination. The album is a lush meditation on longing to return to touring - to see different sunsets and cities. But, it's also a reflection of its difficulties, e.g., insomnia brought on by sleeping in different hotel rooms every night. After a major car accident and the departure of a band member, the duo has taken the duality of all these experiences and translated them into song.