The Funeral Portrait: 'We Knew That Budgets Were Crazy But Thought, Let’s Do It To Our Fullest Extent'

The Funeral Portrait released their second full-length album today, Greetings From Suffocate City, with the 14-track album tackling their signature blend of topical and thrilling subject matter. Vocalist Lee Jennings sat with The Music ahead of the release to discuss the direction of the album.

Greetings From Suffocate City is five years in the making, with the American band returning to the music with new ideas and experiments formed by their prolific touring since they entered the scene in 2014. Jennings says it won’t be real to the group that it’s now going live until midnight before launch day.

Jennings said, “It's time. Because now… now, there's no more, “Oh, what if we don't like that song”, or “Let's change that song”, or what if we don't like that chorus, or whatever. That's kind of what has taken so long - we keep moving things in different directions, thinking something isn’t good enough or wanting to do something else. Now it's like, well, that doesn't matter. It's here for everyone to listen to.”

The Funeral Portrait’s first album, For The Dearly Departed, came out ten years ago in 2014. Jennings reflects that the group has learned and evolved so much in that time, even within the five years that they “sat” on their new album. He said that releasing music that they thought their audience wanted never elicited the same response as the music they released that was just for them.

Jennings said, “We thought, so why don't we go and revisit the ones we were writing and doing for us because those are becoming everyone's favourites, you know. It's cool to realise that; just be you, and it works. Because I think people can see through the bull crap.”

Committed to writing music for themselves, Greetings From Suffocate City is an exciting mix of high-energy tracks with a uniform theme throughout. It explores the relationship between love and loss and how suffering is inherently linked to joy. Jennings is quick to note that the loss they refer to encapsulates lost loved ones and relationships, but also the hit the entertainment industry has taken in the last five years and the opportunities and longing that has created.

Jennings said, “We've all, of course, been through a lot, especially within the last five years. That’s where [Greetings From] Suffocate City was born.”

Early releases from the album include Blood Mother, Suffocate City, and You’re So Ugly When You Cry, with the former tracks accompanied by video clips that exhibit the group's flair for theatrics and creativity.

Blood Mother is a classic emo rock hit. It is well-paced and perfectly showcases the talents of the group. The origin of the song was inspired by medication and its ability to change a person, both adults and children.

The video clip is striking in its simplicity and graphic scenes, with the group in black against a red-lit background. Jennings has blood on his face, and we see an unholy figure or bones, bloody and flesh throughout the track.

When asked what drove the motivation of the song, Jennings says, “I think it had a lot to do with my experience with medicine and being medicated. Taking medicine for many years, and it didn't do me good, it really didn't. And I think we also look at that song as a take on a relationship, almost as medicine.

“Where you're in a relationship, it can be like a fix. You need that, right? You need that fix. And it’s really the opposite of that, right? We are like - you can be just fine by yourself.”

There was an undeniable nostalgia to the Suffocate City track and video, which has already made it to the Top 10 Active Rock Radio Chart.

The video features The Funeral Portrait playing at a school formal (prom) for a sea of misfits and underwhelmed teens. Jennings says they are lucky to have friends and peers in the entertainment industry who are skilled and ready to help them when it comes to executing a creative idea for the group.

Jennings said, “From the get-go, we knew that Suffocate City was going to be the song, and we’d kind of been thinking of an idea the whole time.”

Jennings continued, “We wanted choreography that we could afford and do. A lot of small bands don't really do music videos these days - it's really just a lot of the more high budget.

“And so, for us, we knew that budgets were crazy but thought, let’s still do it to our fullest extent. A lot of [our friends] will volunteer their time, which is great, and a lot of that's for the love of film or the love of, you know, content.”

Emo rock fans will have spied the contributing artists on the album, like Spencer Charnas from Ice Nine Kills, Bert McCracken from The Used, and Danny Worsnop of Asking Alexandria and Eva Under Fire. Jennings said these collaborations were seamless in their inception and delivery, allowing the group to enjoy the process and explore new sounds.

Jennings said, “Both those [collaboaring with Spencer Charnas and Bert McCracken] were crazy. With Spencer, we played his horror convention last year, and we're about to do it again here this weekend. And he is nothing but nice. It's almost like a torch passing, where he's like, “This younger band - I like them, they're cool, they're different. Let's give them a little bit of love.”

Jennings continued, “And the same goes for Bert. His manager was sent our song, he literally listened to it, responded, and did the demo vocals within like, 24 hours. Then I heard the demo vocals, and I was like, “These are incredible”. And he was like, “What do you want me to change?” and I was like, nothing! And then he tracked the real version, and within three days that was done, it was mixed, it was mastered, and we were working on the music video.”

“So it was one of those moments of, ‘This is not happening. It's not real. What is my life like?’ Pinching myself, you know, to make sure that I'm not sleeping.”

Greetings From Suffocate City is available now via Better Noise Music. You can listen to the album here.