The Safest Ledge Returns with a Crushing New Single and Music Video

When one of your favorite DIY bands and good friends are releasing new music, you’re just as excited as they are. I “sat down” (aka quarantine style Facebook Interview) with Ohio Post-Hardcore outfit, The Safest Ledge, to discuss their upcoming single, “Mountain Eyes.”

The song packs a lot into three-and-a-half-minutes of gloomy textures and plenty of emotional depth. Beginning with a slow, sedated intro, “Mountain Eyes” crashes in fully at about 30 seconds. From there on out, it’s a dynamic rollercoaster; the verses are relaxed and vacant to give way to melodic passion, then, pounding choruses and a breakdown fill their voids. Driving bass guitar and drums cement the groundwork, meanwhile the guitar navigates beautiful arpeggiated chords to distorted mayhem. The vocals are a clear selling point here, with an earworm of a chorus that’ll be stuck in your head all day.

“Mountain Eyes” is paired with a music video shot by Alex Zarek. Read our interview with the band below to find out more!

For the Punks is excited to feature The Safest Ledge for the first time! Can you briefly tell our viewers about the band?

[Mason] The Safest Ledge has been together for over 5 years, and over 3 years under this current name. We’ve gone through a bit of a sound progression. Early on we had a strong post-hardcore/spoken word influence, and we’ve transitioned into more emo/alternative rock sound.

I’ve been lucky to get an early preview of your new single, “Mountain Eyes”. The song seriously shreds! What’s the meaning behind it?

[Kennedy] “Mountain Eyes,” being the first single off our sophomore EP The Space Between Words, it needs to represent, to us, what’s it’s all about. It probably could have been the title track lol, but The Space Between ‘Words’ is also seen by us as The Space Between ‘Worlds’ meaning a void in which you feel most lost without yourself like the mountains eyes over seeing every option but it’s just grey matter.

[Joey] Within the big picture of the single, the track is meant to capture the feeling of being your own god, your own sense of comfort, as opposed to relying on others.

[Mason] The line “god can’t save you from yourself’ pretty much highlights that you need to find love within yourself to become even remotely whole.

Can you tell me a little bit about the band’s songwriting and recording process for the single?

[Kennedy] Absolutely! Our songs start with a guitar and basic midi drums to start to formulate the plan, our direction of the mood we feel. I record the demos to try and understand the pure sound we want to achieve out these song stems. Joey writes the lyrics and I translate them into my speech patterns and melodies. We sent the demos off to Steve Perrino. Recorded, Mixed and Mastered at Compass Audio.

[Mason] It’s funny because as we were molding the sound for this record, there was a little hesitation before this was recorded if it would make the record. Ultimately it made it through, and I feel that was a miracle because it has the strongest chorus on the whole record.

[Mike] It was actually very different than how we wrote previously, instead of piecing it together in the practice space we took to Kennedy’s apartment and just started recording guitar parts and the song pretty much formed itself, a real organic and easy flow.

The single will be accompanied by a music video, too. How’d the filming process go and what was your favorite part about it?

[Joey] I feel that the video truly brings the vision to what the song is about. We were very pleased when working with Alex Zarek and trusting in him to give us the best material possible.

[Mason] It was 95 degrees at LEAST, in a small sunroom in this mansion, turned funeral home, turned house venue. I had to take my shirt off and wipe myself with a towel between every take. It was unbearably hot.

Watch the video for “Mountain Eyes” below: