For a band whose new record is titled What To Do When You Are Dead, Ben Jorgensen, chief songwriter for New Jersey's Armor For Sleep, has an intriguing take on his own album's subject matter. "I think it's really interesting how this idea of an afterlife is developed. Not to belittle people who do believe, but I think it's interesting how people spend so much time telling other people what happens after you die."
By exploring the concept of death and whatever follows, Jorgensen is aware that he is treading on well-worn ground. "Obviously using the metaphor of death is probably, if you'll pardon the pun, one of the most over-killed metaphors there is. That's kind of why I wanted to embrace it."
What To Do structures itself around death the same way the band's 2003 debut, Dream To Make Believe, focused on ideas of time and space. Both represent a jumping-off point into far deeper lyrical and subjective waters. "I'm sure that for me to put myself in that place really acted as an escape. It made me face a lot of things I probably would've been too much of a wuss to face, if I didn't pretend I wasn't alive," remarks Jorgensen.
Drawing inspiration from the writings of British medium Craig Hamilton-Parker, Jorgensen who professes to have been raised in a "very scientific environment" went so far as to title the band's new record after one of Hamilton-Parker's books. "I was already writing an album in that way, and when I saw that book, I thought, It would be really cool to make a whole album out of this.' I hope more people catch on that that book is out there, because it's quite interesting to read."
By exploring the concept of death and whatever follows, Jorgensen is aware that he is treading on well-worn ground. "Obviously using the metaphor of death is probably, if you'll pardon the pun, one of the most over-killed metaphors there is. That's kind of why I wanted to embrace it."
What To Do structures itself around death the same way the band's 2003 debut, Dream To Make Believe, focused on ideas of time and space. Both represent a jumping-off point into far deeper lyrical and subjective waters. "I'm sure that for me to put myself in that place really acted as an escape. It made me face a lot of things I probably would've been too much of a wuss to face, if I didn't pretend I wasn't alive," remarks Jorgensen.
Drawing inspiration from the writings of British medium Craig Hamilton-Parker, Jorgensen who professes to have been raised in a "very scientific environment" went so far as to title the band's new record after one of Hamilton-Parker's books. "I was already writing an album in that way, and when I saw that book, I thought, It would be really cool to make a whole album out of this.' I hope more people catch on that that book is out there, because it's quite interesting to read."
