Like many others in the music industry, Silverstein had a lot of plans for 2020 that got turned on it’s head due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The band had put out a phenomenal new record, A Beautiful Place to Drown, and were also celebrating their 20th anniversary as a band, and had the plans to make it a year long celebration.
However, the extended break from the road has allowed the guys to unexpectedly put other plans in motion, culminating with REDUX II, which is a collection of 12 newly re-recorded sonic updates to songs from throughout their career. A follow-up to 2019’s REDUX, the release will be out on November 12th via the band’s own N.S.E.W. Recordings. The new re-recordings were helmed by producer Sam Guaiana, and range from simple renovations to significant rearrangements and enhancements.
When they announced the news last month, they shared “My Disaster (2.0),” which is a re-recorded version of the standout track from 2007’s Arrivals & Departures. They followed it up later with a re-recorded version of “November,” which was lifted from 2003’s When Broken Is Easily Fixed.
Today, the band have shared another song from REDUX II, this time with “California (Acoustic),” which finds the band revising “California” from their 2013 release, This Is How the Wind Shifts, and is one of the most drastic makeovers on the album.
On REDUX II, Silverstein vocalist Shane Told explains,
“‘REDUX: The First Ten Years’ was such a pleasure to make and so well received we knew we wanted to make another one at some point. Of course, we didn’t foresee the circumstances surrounding 2020, but it gave us some time and an opportunity to put together this super fun album of songs that never really held the spotlight. Most of these songs I always thought were great–underrated “deep cuts” that unfortunately were hard to fit into the setlist but in many cases deeply revered by our biggest fans. We were excited to give these tunes a fresh coat of paint and in some cases make a few renovations that could maybe give them the attention they deserve.
I will admit a couple of the songs on this album weren’t my favorites when they were originally released. Maybe it was the mix, the performance, or the song itself, but for some reason they never quite spoke to me. We took on the challenge to find out exactly why they fell flat, and what we could do to find that original magic that existed when they were first written. These songs were reworked, rethought and perfected and now have become some of my favorites we have ever recorded. It’s refreshing and rewarding to be able to bring the knowledge and skills you’ve developed for so many years and go back and breathe new life into something from a different era of the band.
A huge thank you goes out to Sam Guaiana for taking on this ‘REDUX’ project again and allowing us to share this album with you. He took our collective visions and transformed these songs into what they always should have been. I hope you enjoy these even more than the originals — I know I do.”
You can pre-order REDUX II here.
