SYML releases 'Wildfire' video
SELF-TITLED DEBUT ALBUM TO BE RELEASED MAY 3rd
Having recently announced his self-titled debut album, set for release on May 3rd, Seattle based artist and producer SYML (aka Brian Fennell) today releases the official video to accompany fan favourite “Wildfire.” A collaboration between SYML and Mark Ralph (Clean Bandit, Rudimental, Rag’n’Bone Man), “Wildfire” is an incredibly emotive and moving comparative. The accompanying visual is the perfect companion to “Wildfire,” breathing life further into this stunning song and personifying the struggles Fennell documents within.
Watch “Wildfire” HERE
Speaking about “Wildfire” and working with Mark Ralph, Fennel explains “This song started as a gentle production, comparing the devastation wreaked by wildfire to what some experience in their everyday lives. It was invigorating to work on the album version with someone as imaginative as Mark Ralph. He really made this song sound as powerful as its theme.”
Going further into its inspiration, Fennell says, “I wrote this song when all I could see was smoke and falling ash outside of my studio. The whole west coast of the US has been dealing with wildfires since mid-summer and they have wreaked havoc. People have lost everything from their houses to their lives. It struck me that in these seasons of destruction and loss, someone might need to hear that there is hope and that they matter. There can be beauty in destruction, literally and figuratively.”
Focusing on the things that matter is how Fennell writes and records under his alias. Simplicity is what moves SYML – pronounced “simmel,” it means “simple” in Welsh. A child of a closed adoption, Fennell only discovered his Welsh roots as an adult shortly before naming the project. Recorded in his basement studio, 20 miles outside of Seattle, his forthcoming debut album was mostly produced by Fennell himself, with additional collaboration with Mark Ralph (Years & Years, Clean Bandit) on “Wildfire” and Chad Copelin on four songs including the lead single “Clean Eyes”.
Mixed by Grammy award winning engineer Joe Visciano (Beck, Adele), SYML by SYML is 12 tracks of transcendent and emotional dream-pop, synth-rock, and cathartic, uplifting emotion.
Additional album standouts including “Bed,” “Girl” and “Connor” touch upon reflections on fatherhood, family and overcoming hardship. The album also includes breakout single, “Where’s My Love,” which has over 300 million combined streams and over 20 placements and is Certified Gold in the Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium and Platinum in Canada.