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'Can't Really Tell If It's A Sunset Or Sunrise': Imagine Dragons' Dan Reynolds Weighs In On New Album
Dan Reynolds, the frontman of popular band Imagine Dragons, talks about their upcoming album Loom, the meaning behind it and his experience while making it.
The cover of Imagine Dragons’ upcoming sixth studio album Loom shows two figures facing a large sun which seems to be rising, or maybe it’s setting? Frontman Dan Reynolds says that it could be both. In his interview with the Associated Press, the singer revealed, “You can’t really tell if it’s a sunset or a sunrise, and then there are two people kind of separated standing in front of it.”
The album is coming out on June 28 and consists of ten tracks. It is the band’s first album after their double album Mercury which came out in 2022. In his interview, Reynolds also talked about what makes the album different. It is his first album after his divorce from Aja Volkman and some themes about moving on and looking back also made it into some of the songs.
What did Reynolds say about the songs in the album?
As first mentioned, Loom is a study in ambiguity and it begins right with the album cover which sums up all the themes that made it into the album, “Is the beginning of something new, or is this the end of something? And the sunset and the sunrise always kind of feels that way to me. It could be either/or,” Reynolds told AP.
The first single of the album is Eyes Closed, which is an amalgamation of Imagine Dragons’ signature heart-pumping rhythm and something vulnerable at its core. Reynolds said that the song is about looking strong and collected “but on the inside it’s on the verge of maybe shattering.” The robust and powerful opening song Wake Up is accompanied by Take Me To The Beach which has a more relaxed vibe. It seems that Loom is indeed an amalgamation of different feelings and different types of music that is going to be a hit among fans.
There are songs such as Nice To Meet Ya, which is a flirty number talking about moving on. On the other hand, the bittersweet In Your Corner is about looking back at your life. According to Reynolds, he starts to create songs with whatever comes to his mind and that it has been that way since he was only 12 years old. “It’s just an honest output sonically, lyrically of how I’m feeling in the moment,” the singer said.
Another song in this album that pairs playful music with a darker concept is Kid, which has a very interesting history. Apparently, Dan just came into the studio and said the lyrics, “You got to get yourself together, kid/You got to get it together” over a drum loop, and then the band started to build over that base. The song is inspired by 90s music that Reynolds loves. “We had a lot of fun creating that one in the studio. I love the juxtaposition of things that are kind of tongue-in-cheek, but also maybe dark. Heavy concepts, but playful at the same time,” he told AP.
Loom was created in a different way than Imagine Dragons’ other albums
According to Reynolds, the band, which also includes drummer Daniel Platzman, bassist Ben McKee, and guitarist Wayne Sermon, created this album a little bit differently than their previous ones. One of the changes is very obvious as the band which usually teams up with multiple producers for their albums only went with their longtime collaborators Mattman & Robin this time around.
Dan also said that even though usually the band has a lot of demo songs when they go into the record, for Loom, they “had a bunch of demos and we just scrapped everything and went in with a clean slate.” Even the title of the album Loom has layers of meaning as even though the word is usually used in a negative way, Dan does not believe that is always the case. He thinks that just because something is looming does not mean it is necessarily bad, it can also be good. “I also love the idea of the double meaning of it, kind of being a tapestry,” he commented.
The release of Loom will be followed by Imagine Dragons’ North America tour that is kicking off on June 30, 2024. The band will start the tour in Camden, New Jersey, and tour multiple locations across North America, and conclude it in Hollywood Bowl on 22nd October. Dan thinks that touring is something that is ingrained in the very being of Imagine Dragons and said that he loves the idea of a room full of people listening to their songs and realizing that they are not alone in their feelings.
Songs from the new album will of course be in their setlist along with some others that the fans love. “A lot of the record is kind of trying to come to terms with just accepting. Things are looming and incoming, for better or for worse, and there’s just really nothing you could do other than accept it. I still haven’t learned to do that, but we will,” Reynolds said as a closing thought.
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