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fornever
Originally formed in 1995 by sole songwriter, vocalist, and core studio musician/producer Joshua Heinrich, fornever's genre-bending, ever-evolving-yet-uniquely-identifiable sound is the product of relentless reinvention. From the moody, stark, ..17 Seconds..-meets-..Pornography..-era Cure-esque vibe of 1999's ..Pale.. to the acclaimed diverse alt rock of 2005's ..ghosthouse.. and the indie rock/shoegazer/dream pop/electro hybrid of the band's more recent material, fornever's sound is a blend of innate pop sensibilities, sonic experimentation, and a penchant for melancholia. Combined with intelligent lyrics, running the gamut from introspection to witty social/political sarcasm, fornever's work has found a home among an ever-growing international fanbase, repeatedly earning critical acclaim as well as literally dozens of high-charting singles on a number of high-profile internet music sites (including numerous stints at the top of mp3.com's coveted genre charts during the site's heyday). Following 2011's guitar-heavy indie/post-punk album ((echo)), and a number of side project diversions, fornever returned to the studio and moved in a more electronic direction, beginning work on around 40 new songs that were released from 2013-2014 across two albums and an EP. In 2015, the band celebrated its 20th anniversary with the release of two new albums, two EPs, a "best of" compilation covering fornever's second decade, and a youtube series highlighting rare, out of print, and early fornever material.
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www.autumnalrelease.com/fornever
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Black Wedding
Black Wedding formed in 2004 as a collaboration between musician Joshua Heinrich, best known for his solo work under the name fornever, and music journalist and editor Julie Johnson, who currently runs Grave Concerns E-zine. The two previously collaborated together in the underground alternative band Orangabelle 5, releasing two albums and two EPs before dissolving the band in 2002 after the release of their second full-length album, FUSE. Beginning as an on-again-off-again side project, the band spent time writing and demoing material that would eventually make up part of their debut album, including an early version of their debut single, "control". After beginning writing and recording for the album in earnest, however, the band went on an extended hiatus due to Heinrich's commitments with fornever and other projects as well as Johnson's schedule and commitments with Grave Concerns.
In 2010, the band reconvened, revisited the material recorded during the previous sessions, and shortly thereafter continued recording and writing new material. Their debut EP, Control, and long-awaited 10-song eponymous album were released in spring 2011 on Autumnal Release Records. Since then, the band has remained sporadically active, releasing one-off singles as well as an EP.
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www.autumnalrelease.com/blackwedding
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premature burial
Premature burial officially began in 2001 as an outlet to collect fornever frontman Joshua Heinrich's more experimental output. The project's first album, flowers for the dead, compiled experimental electronic music recorded for college performances, newly recorded ambient meanderings combining processed violins and woodwinds with sampling, and a few other oddities. It was originally meant to be a one-off album, but the project soon took on a life of its own, resulting in two more coherent and serious instrumental concept albums that pushed the boundaries of the project's experimentation and diverse instrumentation. Blending industrial and rock elements with full orchestral arrangements and noise, the band's sound grabbed the attention of fans of genres as diverse as death metal, classical, world, ambient, goth, and industrial. Ritual, a concept album both intellectual and
emotional, explored spirituality, paganism, and the occult, and produced the project's biggest hit, "sacrifice" (a track that has since appeared in film). Ruins pushed the boundaries even further, portraying the collapse of society, war, and annihilation in auditory form. In 2003, Heinrich began work on a fourth premature burial album, nightfall, dealing with themes of control, politics, and illusions of freedom, but the album was abandoned shortly into recording due to feelings that the new album, sonically, wasn't pushing the same boundaries as the previous two premature burial albums.
In 2011, a tenth anniversary reissue of ritual was released with previously unreleased bonus tracks along with reissues of ruins and flowers for the dead, all remastered from the original multitrack recordings. In 2015, the project was resurrected to record a track, "signal to noise to signal", for an experimental compilation on Silber Records. The following year, premature burial recorded and released a new EP, Factions (alternately stylized "f/a/c/t/i/o/n/s"), also on Silber Records.
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www.autumnalrelease.com/prematureburial
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Orangabelle 5
Going through a whirlwind of stylistic change throughout their brief 4 year career, Orangabelle 5 began in 1999 with the darkwave/goth/industrial EP Slipping from Reality and ended in 2002 after the alternative/indie pop album FUSE. Churning out singles like the internet chart topping darkwave hit "missing you", the beautifully dark "turn the key", and the poppier "restless love" along the way, musician/producer/vocalist Joshua Heinrich and lyricist Julie Johnson evolved through two EPs and two albums before calling it quits. They're currently collaborating on a new project, Black Wedding, with an EP and album due out in 2011.
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www.myspace.com/orangabelle5
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entreat
Entreat was a collaboration between college friends Joshua Heinrich (vocals, guitar, violin, programming) and Jaroslaw Myszewski (keyboards, programming). The two drew from elements of electronic, experimental, ambient, and pop music to create diverse music that ranged from synthpop to echoing guitar-driven melancholia. Randomly writing and recording together, the group's output was small and sporadic but well-received, with the single "Un Mundo Perfecto" garnering interest and praise, particularly throughout Europe. Despite plans to release an EP, a physical release never came together.
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www.soundclick.com/entreat
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Colder Than Yesterday
Colder Than Yesterday's roots date back to early 2000, when musician Eric Loftis approached Joshua Heinrich and asked him to remix and provide artwork for a new instrumental single by his solo project at the time. Loftis was so happy with the results that he asked Heinrich to form a new band, and the song, "Imagickal", instead became their first single. With Heinrich on vocals/guitars/keyboards/programming/percussion, and Loftis handling keyboards/programming/guitars/vocals, the band released an 11-track album, Memories Like Tears, in 2000. Their industrial/darkwave/indie/ambient hybrid made minor waves in the club scene and among other genre artists. The band later made plans to record a second album but disbanded before writing/recording had begun in earnest.
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www.soundclick.com/colderthanyesterday
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SDL
Influenced by post-punk, art rock, and deathrock, Joshua Heinrich and Eric Loftis set out to create a new project with a more immediate, organic aesthetic than their main collaboration, Colder Than Yesterday. Taking their name from a March Violets song and drawing from influences as diverse as Shadow Project, David Bowie, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Lydia Lunch, Heinrich soon began writing what would become the group's only release. Early into recording, Loftis disappared from sessions and subsequently left the band. His only contribution to the album was bass on the song "shimmer", with the rest of the album being recorded and produced by Josh. The album was released in 2001 with a tongue-in-cheek bio depicting SDL as a fake 80s post-punk band and the album as a collection of material from vinyl singles and unearthed rarities.
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www.soundclick.com/slowdriplizard
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she cries alone
She Cries Alone was a short-lived post-punk/indie pop project featuring Joshua Heinrich and Mike Govenettio (formerly of The Destruction of Nature by Technology). The band recorded two demos before amicably dissolving, "the never world" and "angel". The latter was later reworked and released as a fornever single by the same title.
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www.soundclick.com/shecriesalone
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