Bathe Alone Pays Tribute to Nostalgia in “Missionary Ridge” and Double EP “Fall With The Lights Down”
Atlanta dream pop artist Bathe Alone shares her ethereal new single, “Missionary Ridge,” along with the haunting official video. It is the last offering from their upcoming double EP, Fall With The Lights Down (Velma) & (Louise), that will be released on August 4.
“[Missionary Ridge] is one of my favorite songs on the record,” Bathe Alone says. “It’s all total nostalgia, taking me back to my grandparent's house in Chattanooga. Some of my memories growing up there were of such mundane things, but as I grow older, I’ve realized how important those memories are. My hope with this song was to pay tribute to that place and those times that feel so far away now. I worked with some close friends, Nic Huey and Paula Harding, to create a video that sort of captures the feeling of looking back on those memories as an adult.”
The Fall With The Lights Down compilation is a sonic expression of nostalgic longing, with each part dedicated to one of multi-instrumentalist Bailey Crone’s great-grandmothers whom she never met and are pictured on the cover of their namesake EP.
“I was browsing my dad's Facebook, and he had uploaded all of these family photos,” Bathe Alone says. “She just looks super unhappy and out of context being on a boat. Then there’s another photo of the other great-grandma in a yellow vest with a picnic basket next to her. I thought these photos were so weird and powerful.”
While Fall With The Lights Down’s imagery is primarily centered around Crone’s great-grandmothers, the project also considers the many ways we experience loss (which extends to the absence of a pet) and the good memories one makes while young that one will look back on forever.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Thank you for sitting down and talking to Unpublished Magazine. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more. For any readers who aren’t familiar, what inspires your artistic style and creative persona?
[BATHE ALONE]: I like to listen to fun artists that are totally not my own music genre. I love Beach House, Lana Del Rey, Billie Eilish, Bombay Bicycle Club, Paramore, and Lorde because I gravitate towards melodic-driven music.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Say if someone hasn’t heard of your music yet, which song would you introduce them to that encapsulates your style and maturity the best?
[BATHE ALONE]: “In Your Wake” because I’m the most proud of that song.
[UNPUBLISHED]: You recently released your newest single “Missionary Ridge.” What is the inspiration behind the track?
[BATHE ALONE]: My grandparents were in Chattanooga and that's basically my childhood, like going up there and seeing them and spending time was sentimental. Through the lens of a kid, I tried to capture nostalgic elements from those moments. It had a grandness and magical energy to it that added to the comfortable atmosphere. I wrote a song centering around missing those memories.
[UNPUBLISHED]: “Missionary Ridge” is accompanied by a music video. What is the inspiration behind the video and how was your experience filming it?
[BATHE ALONE]: We went for a creepy vibe, and we filmed it in my friend’s house and she had access to her parent’s house which gave off a haunting energy. Naturally, we didn't have to do much set design. We dimmed the lights and added photos of my family and their things such as my grandparent’s clothes, canes, and pictures. We wanted to add elements that I associated with being a kid. We added magnolia petals and vines that reminded me of Chattanooga.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What do you love most about the song? Is there like a specific lyric or message that stands out to you the most?
[BATHE ALONE]: Every single verse centers around simple things – like describing viney trees and yellow streets – each lyric brings back a memory.
[UNPUBLISHED]: You are about to release your double EP Fall With The Lights Down (Louise) & (Velma) next month. What can listeners take away from this new era of music?
[BATHE ALONE]: I feel like my songwriting has gotten better and my collaboration with my producer Damon has gotten so much stronger, like we've gotten really experimental in our sound design and trying to create atmospheres that you can just really be immersed in. That was the goal with the first record too.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What did the creative process for Fall With The Lights Down look like?
[BATHE ALONE]: My producer Damon Moon and I always work together. I brought him a fully fleshed out blueprint and he added a drum set to it. We did a retrack with his equipment and he brought the original version to life. He has a lot of vintage equipment and it adds a warmth in the texture of the sounds.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Why did you choose to center the album artwork around your grandmothers?
[BATHE ALONE]: When I write songs, I feel like I'm not really thinking of them in the context of an album, but after I've written a whole bunch of them I can see the throughline. I was writing about a bunch of memories and missing the moments that I was talking about – like my old dog and an old vacation I took– I feel really sentimental. That was the throughline for me. I was browsing my dad’s Facebook looking for old pictures and stumbled upon the two of my great grandparents that I had never met. They were on a boat and looked super unhappy. I thought the pictures were epic. I showed them to my friend and she said the imagery had power and that was a really cool moment in time. The energy is weird so I just went with it.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What is your favorite song off the EP and why do you love the song?
[BATHE ALONE]: “In Your Wake,” but I’m equally as proud of the last song called “4u.” In my head, it’s so cinematic and I love the ending. I feel like it could go on and on forever. The topic I was singing about in that song is about a dog that my family was going to adopt but it passed before we could get them and it almost felt like a miscarriage almost. I cried writing this song throughout the entire process. I’ve seen pictures of this dog and knew it was going to be mine and it never happened. It was a tragedy song but still extremely sentimental.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What song are you most excited for fans to listen to and why?
[BATHE ALONE]: I feel like it's “4u” because it means so much to me. I keep making jokes to people that the last songs on my album are dedicated to a dead dog.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What is your wildest dream as an artist? If you can have one thing happen (a milestone or dream collaboration you hope to achieve in your career), what would that look like for you?
[BATHE ALONE]: I have so many dream collaborations. Cindi Lauper would be sick, but also Lana Del Rey and Bombay Bicycle Club.
[UNPUBLISHED]: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like for you that you would like to share with Unpublished?
[BATHE ALONE]: We are opening for Judu Heart at Terminal West in Atlanta on July 27.
