March 14, 2021

Album 4 is finished! We are so excited to share this with the world, as it has been a slow and arduous process to drag this one, kicking and screaming, into the light. Between serious bouts with mental illness, the pandemic, and the very real limitations that lockdown placed on our writing process, it is a miracle that we are even here today, much less that we have crafted a new album that we can be so proud of. In many ways, the struggle to make the album is reflected in its content, without being beholden to it. It is safe to say that this is Khemmis at our bleakest and most vulnerable, but it is also our most dynamic record to date, musically and lyrically affirming the most basic feelings that we can have as humans: Anger, fear, despair, hope, grief, love, loss, regret, and forgiveness.

This vulnerability comes at great personal cost — honestly, it is terrifying to expose such weaknesses to the world, especially in the form of art that is open to critique and consumerism — but we present these facets of ourselves in hope that it inspires others to do more of this in their own lives. One of the greatest challenges we face as humans in today’s world is the inability to let down our walls and see each other for who we are, beyond our socioeconomic status, politics, religious beliefs, gender expression or sexual preference, race, ethnicity, or nativity, age and creed. As we say in the chorus of the album’s closing track, “cracks in the walls ease the night for us all, but we wait and hide from the pain”; I know as well as anyone how painful it can be to open up to others in this way, but we can’t wait any longer if we hope to move forward in this broken world. Among other things, we hope that this record can ease that pain a little bit, however modestly, and help to start that dialogue. Music has long been a great uniting force, one that has meant so much to us personally, and without it we are truly doomed.

-Phil