Ways in Waves is the brainchild of Brian Raine, a multi-instrumentalist and music producer living out of Edmonton, Alberta. With malleable form and the spirit of experimentation at its core, the group began as a live duo, and eventually expanded to a five piece live band with Raine picking up vocals as well as guitar and keys parts. 

With the latest releases – including the previously released “Who in War” and “Everything Taken” – Raine chose to focus the sound of the project into a tighter, brighter, more aggressive sound. Combining aspects of rock, art-pop, and electronic music together into a mixture that propels the listener through controlled chaos, Ways in Waves are now sharing “Gliese,” from their upcoming LP out this September.

Raine took a lot of influence from hyper-pop IDM artists like Iglooghost and Sophie – not necessarily in the specifics of his sound design but in the bravery that those artists exhibit in presenting something boldly. “Gliese” is supposed to feel a bit overwhelming, a bit alien… it embodies the coldness and the unfamiliarity of a future without our home planet. 

Several years ago, I was doing a lot of reading about different kinds of planets that exist within the habitable zones of stars. I came across Gliese 581, a star with several potentially habitable planets surrounding it, which are all very likely tidally locked (meaning one side always faces the sun, like the moon is to earth). I started imagining how life would evolve in eternal sunshine, eternal darkness, along the paradise line in the center… It was a wonderful fantasy that I could imagine and return to for many years. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed that the people who want to leave earth, who want to colonize space, are often the most terrible among us. These people who are willing to put absurd resources into fleeing our planet are the ones who are destroying it, and so this song became about the fallacy of escapism, specifically fleeing to the stars. – Brian Raine