Ennui
Photo Credit 📷 : @sofiasav.jpg
Today we’re honored to be premiering the music video for a new Ennui track “Quarrelsome Heaven”. Ennui hail from Long Island, (New York–Suffolk County specifically) and [more specifically] three fifths of them grew up in the Stony Brook area. Sharing members with one of my favorite long island bands Private Mind, their members are also active in a plethora of other bands in their scene including Grael, Of Temperament, Boots on the Sand, Terror Eyes, Maida and Time Out. Needless to say these boys are busy.
We had a chat with Ennui vocalist JA Czerwinski and guitarist Mike Varley about the inspirations behind the writing process of their upcoming album as well as chat about their recording process and their plans for the future of the band.
WHAT INSPIRED YOUR CREATIVITY DURING THE WRITING PROCESS FOR THIS ALBUM??
Mike: “When I was initially looking for inspiration for our songs I was revisiting a lot of stuff that inspired me when I was first discovering hardcore and aggressive music. Mostly 90s and 00s screamo, emocore etc.; La Quiete, Portraits of Past, Daniel Striped Tiger, Anomie, Saetia.”
“I WAS IN HIGHCHOOL DURING THE GOLDEN AGE ON INTERNET PIRACY THAT WAS CENTERED AROUND BLOGSPOTS; I WOULD DOWNLOAD TEN OR SO ALBUMS AT A TIME AND LISTEN TO THEM AT SCHOOL THAT WEEK. I WAS ENAMOURED WITH THE LOFI RECORDINGS AND MELODIC ELEMENTS JUXTAPOSED WITH RAW EMOTIONAL SHRIEKING VOCALS.”
“IN AN ERA WHERE HARDCORE AND EMO WERE BECOMING COMMERCIALIZED AND OVERPRODUCED, I FOUND A COUNTERPOINT THAT EMBRACED THE DIY ETHICS AND AESTHETICS THAT I CRAVED AND THAT’S EXACTLY THE TYPE OF EXPIERIENCE I HOPE ENNUI PROVIDES TO THOSE WHO SEEK IT.”
- MIKE, @ENNUI.LINY
I am the ice, I am the wall. Pride of the voice, invisible. I am the frost, you are the cost.
I hurt I, mourning dew–hurting you. To be heard, nothing learned. Push away, stay away with guilt.
to be heard, nothing learned. Push away, let me in with guilt. Sixteen years old today, stage four I heard mom say.
Sister, is our grandfather going away?
Because he’s eighty pounds less this year—and he sits quiet on his porch with less time than any of us have.
Thirty eight years old, fifty six years old, seventy four years old, ninety three years old—alone without you.
Twenty years gone by and love’s always been hard. I tried, I tried my fucking best.
Family; shattered into scatters. Screaming is all that fucking matters.
I love you, promise not to leave. I love you, promise to leave me be. I hate you, promise to set me free.
JA: “A good portion of the lyrics on this record are inspired by conversations I had with our bassist Jason over the past 3 years or so. He knows me better than anybody and we’re both into a lot of esoteric text, psychology, and art.”
”So much has happened throughout the course of this record that it’s hard for me to convey exactly what my state was. I went through a terrible separation of sorts, fell back in love, a couple of personal altercations that drew too much attention, repaired the relationship with my mom after having no contact and not speaking for almost four years, a myriad of health issues ranging some somatic to mental to physical, cutting a lot of ties and trying to live a more focused life.”
”It's tough. As of writing this, I’m 2 weeks shy of turning 40 years old. I feel like a lot of this record is reflecting upon the challenges of getting older – having to undo a lot of the things from youth that are still stuck or stagnant. Things that remain present that are cruel, or are at best delusional and self-serving. The desire to close all distance and not have everything feel so lacking and without calm.”
”Dark insights that I had a blind-spot to when I was a younger person, watching my folks get older and less able – being next in line to be their sense of reason but still feeling the residue of decades past and still feeling very strongly about the values I had 20 years ago but with 20 years of more life lived. Trying to put so much hurt and division to rest because it doesn’t matter anymore, it’s exhausting to carry all of this weight.”
“But there is so much good that came from this time too. I became impossibly close to people, old friendships were mended and strong new ones were formed. I can’t begin to articulate how much that means to me. We all have connections to people that feel stronger than the families we were born into. Letting go of so much of that – seeing the adversarial world as wounded and confused people instead of objects of opposition. Life is messy and unclean, mistakes granted, but we are as vigilant and forceful as we need to be when something contests that serenity.”
”Protect it, honor it, or be prepared to lose it or leave it.”
Mike: ”Tyler Hoelin mixed the record–he’s a big supporter of Ennui and the Long Island scene and plays in probably 70% of the local bands. He did a great job and was very patient with us. Will Killingsworth at Dead Air Studios did the mastering, he’s always been our go-to.” The band’s next show is on July 30th at The Calling Bell in Huntington with Heavy Hex, Liberate, Pound for Pound, Of Temperament and Top of the World.”
“ABC No Rio alumni Dyami Bryant has hooked us up with a spot on day 2 of Collective Effort Fest at the Meadows in Brooklyn in October with Gillian Carter, Hundreds of AU, our friends in Pyre and more. This may be the biggest venue we’ve played and although my personal preference is intimate floor-shows I’m excited to share the stage with all these awesome bands–very grateful for this opportunity.” A record release show in the works for September, TBA.
Eternal Wax Wings Eternal Sun is set for release August 20th–it will be streaming everywhere and available on CD through Day Zero Collective with a booklet that folds out into a neat little poster.
Ennui is JA Czerwinski on vocals,
Rebecca Maida & Mike Varley on guitars, Jason Jenkins on bass and Chris Lundquist on drums.
Follow them on Instagram here : @ennui.liny
Writer : @just_reidz
Editor : @garevthistle
07/29/25
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