Having released his self titled debut album in May this year, which debuted at #5 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart, Seattle based artist and producer SYML aka Brian Fennell has released a video for his single ‘Girl’. Directed by ‘Hayley Young’, the video is a homage to his daughter Josephine.
Two years ago Fennell became a father. Soon after, his daughter Josephine was diagnosed with a disorder that restricted the development of her brain as her skull fused too soon. “Luckily, we caught it at a good time so her development was still on track up to that point and we did a surgery in time to allow her to have a healthy, full normal life,” he wrote recently. “The build up leading up to that surgery was the most intense thing that my wife and I and our family had ever been through.”
The first time SYML ever wrote a song it was to help him process the death of a friend, and dealing with the anxieties that come with having a child undergo surgery had him once again turning to music to cope. But that’s not the only reason he wrote “Girl.”
“Josie will not remember it, she’s too little, so I wrote this song with two purposes,” he says. “One was therapeutic in a way for me and my family as we went through this and the other was to serve as a bit of a letter to her for her to have when she grows up to better understand what she went through and to know that this is an important part of who she is and how much of a badass she is for enduring it. There are people young and old who will go through life-changing experiences. Some painful, some not, some big, some small, and it almost seems supernatural that we as humans are capable of going through that. On the other hand it seems totally natural, we put our heads down and we do it, it’s just the wildest thing. One of my favorite lines in the song is, ‘Sometimes our bodies will hurt for some time and the beauty in that can be hard to find but I want you to find it.’ That is so hard to say and to believe, but I do believe it.”
Simplicity is what moves SYML – pronounced “sih-mul,” it means “simple” in Welsh. A child of a closed adoption, Fennell only discovered his Welsh roots as an adult shortly before naming the project. The songwriting process for ‘SYML’ was a therapeutic one, forcing him to confront his feelings around his identity, fatherhood, relationships and all the unexpected challenges we have to face. Recorded in his basement studio, 20 miles outside of Seattle, it was mostly produced by Fennell himself, with additional collaboration from Mark Ralph (Clean Bandit, Rudimental) and Chad Copelin. Mixed by Grammy award winning engineer Joe Visciano (Beck, Adele), SYML by SYML is the sound of Brian Fennell opening up and letting us in, his emotional honesty and way with a killer melody and sharply observed lyric combining to powerful effect.
Watch ‘Girl’ – BELOW:
SYML will return to Europe for a headline tour, which begins September 11 in Vienna, Austria, and includes stops in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourgh, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, France and culminates in London, UK at the Scala on October 29th. Over the past year, he has shared the stage with Lewis Capaldi, Bruno Major, and supported Dean Lewis on his sold-out US spring run. A complete list of upcoming European tour dates follow below.
European Tour :
6/21 Neuhausen ob Eck, Germany @ Southside Festival
6/22 Scheessel, Germany @ Hurricane Festival
6/23 Leipzig, Germany @ Naumanns
6/25 Zwolle, Netherlands @ Hedon
6/26 Nijmegen, Netherlands @ Doornroosje, Paarse Zaal
6/27 Esch Sur Alzette, Luxembourg @ Rockhal
6/29 Werchter, Belgium @ Rock Werchter
7/1 Milan, Italy @ Magnolia
7/6 Dublin, Ireland @ Button Factory
8/8 Haldern, Germany @ Haldern Pop
9/11 Vienna, Austria @ B72
9/12 Munich, Germany @ Strom
9/14 Zurich, Switzerland @ Papiersaal
9/16 Frankfurt, Germany @ Zoom
9/17 Cologne, Germany @ Luxor
9/18 Berlin, Germany @ Bi Nuu
10/14 Brussels, Belgium @ Ancienne Belgique
10/15 Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso
10/17 Oslo, Norway @ Ingensteds
10/19 Gothenburg, Sweden @ Oceanen
10/20 Stockholm, Sweden @ Debaser Bar Brooklyn
10/21 Copenhagen, Denmark @ Ideal Bar
10/23 Paris, France @ Maroquinerie
10/25 Brighton, United Kingdom @ The Haunt
10/26 Cardiff, United Kingdom @ Clwb Ifor Bach
10/27 Manchester, United Kingdom @ Band on a Wall
10/29 London, United Kingdom @ Scala
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