From Loss to Light: The Story Behind Female President's New Album 'The Healing Ritual'
Female President is thrilled to announce the release of their latest EP, "The Healing Ritual". This new collection of original rock songs promises driving riffs and powerful vocals, delivering "rock n’ roll that drives in tempo and message". Liste here: https://open.spotify.com/intl-pt/album/38fKVImc1xiiQvKGTgP1I4
A significant highlight of the EP is the reimagined collaboration of “II Odyssey Within Remix” with Japanese musician and composer Katsuharu Koura. This track fulfilled a lifelong dream of lead vocalist Drea to create a disco song reminiscent of the one that first made her want to sing.
In this candid interview, Female President delves into the emotional journey behind their latest EP, The Healing Ritual. Reflecting on personal loss, the band navigates the difficult process of grief and healing, transforming pain into art. They share how their experiences, from the loss of loved ones to the challenges of forming a band during the pandemic, have shaped the sound and themes of their music. From exploring the five stages of grief to blending diverse musical influences, the band aims to connect with listeners on a deeply personal level, inviting them into a shared journey of resilience and growth.
What inspired the emotional journey behind "The Healing Ritual"? We lost my Dad, aunt, and cousin the year we wrote our first EP, “Our Year To Grieve”. All of the losses from that year had me feeling the lowest I’ve ever felt. The world seemed hopeless in so many ways. I had to shift gears, mentally and emotionally, and choose to feel better not knowing what the hell I was doing or how I was going to get to the next level of understanding myself and my place in the world. I asked a lot of “Why am I here” questions and “What is the meaning of life” and came face to face with so much discomfort, anger, and disappointment. I’m usually a very optimistic person. As a band, we decided to focus on a healing process and write songs that reflected how it felt to get to the other side of grief. Allowing discomfort to become the new normal is how we all got through it.
How did you capture the five stages of grief in the songs? At first, Jasper and I debated if the order of the stages mattered and once we realized the songs just had to grab the feeling of each we shifted to the process of letting go, letting it all out. Johnny wrote the main riff for Joy Lab and pairing my lyrics to it was a very vulnerable experience. I didn’t want to judge my thoughts; instead, I wrote a stream of consciousness and then shaped it into a rhyme scheme. Building to that reverb echo of “standing strong with women forged by wisdom” is such a release. It’s full of denial but it’s what I wish was reflected in our society. The spirit of each stage is imbued into the music and lyrics that represent it.
How have your musical influences shaped the sound of this EP? We have always been musicians without genres, even before Female President. Each song on “The Healing Ritual” references a genre to further illustrate the emotion we hope to convey. Enflamed in Effigy has a harder rock feel that throws back to the 80s and 90s. Joy Lab smacks of post-punk doom to support the stream of lyrics and unusual outro. Home Is The Horizon was always meant to feel like a folk rock lullaby. A dear friend said that particular song makes her think of Laurel Canyon in the 70’s and that is what we hoped to do, transport the listener to a different time and space. Our next EP will be a blend of grunge and our most authentic sound, but I don’t know if we could ever pick one musical influence to reign supreme.
How did starting the band during the pandemic impact the album’s themes? Loss is the only constant in life. The pandemic took so much from so many and still has an impact. Starting the band during a worldwide period of loss illustrated that as change comes barging down your door, it brings gifts of new experiences and ultimately creation. The first two EPs are bookends that symbolize that there is no end, only beginnings. We started writing the next EP, “Recollections of Misspent Youth” to encourage. That’s all we hope to do with this next EP.
How do you hope listeners will connect with "The Healing Ritual"? We sincerely hope that listeners will find their own stories in the songs, and create more personal meaning from each. We hope they remain open to genre-blending and just have fun with the songs.
What’s next for Female President after this release? We started writing the next EP, “Recollections of Misspent Youth”. We’ll be releasing singles from that in early 2025. We are finishing out 2024 with one more collaboration, a cover of “Oh Darlin’ What Have I Done” by White Buffalo. We are dropping that song just before Halloween. And we have one more surprise event happening in October. Follow our Instagram and TikTok!
