Stay the Sea - Shimmer (2017)

Stay the Sea is an instrumental experimental rock and post-rock band based in Athens, GA (soon to be Atlanta, GA). They draw influence from a very diverse and ever-growing catalog, though namely Thrice, A Lot Like Birds, Sigur Ros, Russian Circles, and lots of soundtracks and film music come to mind when attempting to pinpoint the top tier of influences.

In a span of just three months over the summer of 2015, Stay the Sea released two albums. The first of which, A Patterned Length of Light, released in May, plays more to their calmer post-rock vibes, and sets a very atmospheric and almost tranquil tone, even through the more up-tempo and distorted tracks. With August 2015's I was jealous of her, Stay the Sea set out to ambitiously construct a loose soundtrack for the anime series Hanamonogatari. Select scenes were scored meticulously, and the album, while diverse, comes very aggressively at the listener when compared to it's predecessor.

In the early years, Stay the Sea was a laughable attempt at post-hardcore-esque songwriting, but with one thing in their favor: the hunger to continue writing and never settle. After parting ways with their vocalist after about a year as a band, Stay the Sea tried for several months to find more musicians to join them. When nothing came to fruition, they decided to not let it hold them back and embrace the spacey three-piece instrumental outfit they had become, and released the Attempting Motion demo as their first foray into the instrumental music scene.

Now, the band is steadily playing gigs in and around Athens and Atlanta, GA. They are also currently in the process of writing their next full-length album.