Fires In The Distance's Yegor Savonin Talks Circadian Promise, Depression and Multiple Sclerosis in Exclusive Interview with Gino Alache

Yegor Savonin, guitarist, songwriter and founding member of Fires In The Distance, recently spoke with Gino Alache for Rockum and the Rockum Radio Show on CFRC 101.9 FM about the creation of Circadian Promise, the band's musical evolution, and the personal experiences that helped shape the album.

Throughout the conversation, Savonin reflects on the darker atmosphere of the new record, the growing creative role of vocalist Brendan, the importance of atmosphere and orchestration, and how an unexpected diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis gave the album an entirely new meaning after it had already been completed.

For more about the album, read: Fires in the Distance Announce 'Circadian Promise' Album Ahead of June 12 Release

Gino Alache / Rockum: What was the starting point for Circadian Promise?

Yegor Savonin / Fires In The Distance: During our last tour I would mess around with some riff ideas during soundchecks, by the time we got home in October I took what I remembered and started building off of that. The songs come together rather sporadically, sometimes the creative flow is there and other times not so much. Over the year that followed we were going through a lot as a band as well as in our personal lives which also served as a source of inspiration for Circadian Promise.

Gino Alache / Rockum: How would you describe the album compared to Air Not Meant For Us?

Yegor Savonin / Fires In The Distance: It carries a darker atmosphere, yet at the same time retains the melancholy themes which are intertwined through all of our music. This album definitely feels like an evolution, but at the same time it reflects a snapshot of a particular time period in our lives. Historically, each of our albums vary a fair amount from one to the next. With that being said it's difficult to say how the next record will sound, which is exciting in and of itself.

Gino Alache / Rockum: What did you most want to push further compared to Air Not Meant For Us?

Yegor Savonin / Fires In The Distance: Can't say there was any particular push. These songs come together organically and, as I was saying, reflect a particular time, emotions and atmosphere that we live through and experience. There really isn't a plan to how these records come together.

Gino Alache / Rockum: How did the songwriting process evolve on this album?

Yegor Savonin / Fires In The Distance: The writing process hasn't changed much with the exception of Brendan taking initiative and collaborating with me on the lyrical content. He has done an excellent job of internalizing the themes of the lyrics that are already there and expanding on them through the addition of his clean vocal ideas, for which he writes his own lyrics. It has been an absolute pleasure working together with such an insightful musician, he definitely brought a solid melodious complement to some of these songs with his ideas for clean vocals.

Gino Alache / Rockum: How important were orchestration and atmosphere in shaping the identity of the record?

Yegor Savonin / Fires In The Distance: Atmosphere has always been one of the biggest focal points of our music, so it's always going to be engrained in the composition in some form or another. We're also grateful to continue working with Randy Slaugh once again, he is an unbelievably talented musician and I always look forward to our collaborations. Randy has an amazing ability to take any section of music and infuse it with a gigantic cinematic feeling. When used at the right moments it really conjures a very powerful and captivating sound.

Gino Alache / Rockum: What was the most challenging song to complete?

Yegor Savonin / Fires In The Distance: 'Author' took me the longest to finalize. I really can't say why it happened that way, but at one point it all kind of came together seamlessly after I'd walked away from that song for a while, and now it's become one of my favorite songs on the record.

Gino Alache / Rockum: How did the lyrical ideas for Circadian Promise come together?

Yegor Savonin / Fires In The Distance: The lyrics and always the last component to be written. When all of the songs are instrumentally complete, I take the time to reflect on what the melodies are meant to convey and do my best to extract the correct language to reflect that.

Gino Alache / Rockum: Themes like mortality, depression and acceptance run throughout the album. Why were those ideas important to explore?

Yegor Savonin / Fires In The Distance: In essence I started this project in order to externalize and put to music what it is like to live and cope with clinical depression, with which I've battled for most of my life. Acceptance is an essential component of progress, even though it's not always the easiest to reach.

With that being said, this record took on a bit of duality in meaning for me later on after everything was written and completed. The week we were supposed to film our videos I ended up in the hospital for loss of sight in one of my eyes, which ultimately turned out to be Multiple Sclerosis. Coming to terms with finding out I have a chronic autoimmune disease was not something I'd ever expected, but it became one of the very things I'd initially written the record about, except whereas originally the themes stemmed from a mental health perspective, now I was looking at these themes through the lens of a life-long neurological condition.

It was kinda wild, though at the same time it felt almost fated that I needed to write this album, even though initially I had no clue it would take on such a duality of meaning for me.

Gino Alache / Rockum: Did the meaning of the album change as the songwriting progressed?

Yegor Savonin / Fires In The Distance: No, not really. As I said the music carries it's own feeling which reflects what's going on in our lives, so the meaning and theme is kind of like a snapshot in time.

Gino Alache / Rockum: What made Of Radiance and Levitation the right introduction to the album?

Yegor Savonin / Fires In The Distance: The song just felt huge. It context, it really wouldn't fit in anywhere else on the record. It felt like a return and an entrance at the same time, so it became the opener.

Gino Alache / Rockum: To You, Author of My Fade feels more aggressive and confrontational. What inspired that side of the record?

Yegor Savonin / Fires In The Distance: This song is about recognizing that sometimes we are our own worst enemy and biggest obstacle and accepting that fact. Sometimes it's not so easy to acknowledge and the rationalizing and internal conflict can feel quite fierce, which is what the music essentially encapsulates.

Gino Alache / Rockum: Have fans reacted in ways that surprised you so far?

Yegor Savonin / Fires In The Distance: In a way, I expected to see more divisiveness on the vocal shift, but the vast majority of the response so far has been extremely positive, and we couldn't be more grateful. The deeper a band gets into their discography, there's an inevitability for evolution, at least in everything I've written in the past. There will always be listeners who like a particular sound and prefer to hear that and may not be quite as open to change, which is totally okay. We're eternally grateful for everyone that's taken the time to listen to our music, past or present. A vocalist change is always a heavy shift to get used to. Thankfully, the reactions have been very warm and positive.

Gino Alache / Rockum: Any plans to bring Fires In The Distance to Canada again?

Yegor Savonin / Fires In The Distance: Absolutely! We'll be in Quebec, Toronto and Montreal the 3rd week of June! We're all looking forward to coming back and playing for our Canadian friends.

Gino Alache / Rockum: Finally, do you have a message for the readers of RockumWeb.com and the listeners of Rockum Radio?

Yegor Savonin / Fires In The Distance: From all of us in Fires, we'd like to express our deepest gratitude to all of the listeners! It means the world to us, and we hope to see you on the road soon.

Fires In The Distance continue expanding their musical identity through Circadian Promise, combining atmospheric songwriting, emotional depth and personal experiences that have shaped the band's evolution. During this conversation with Gino Alache for Rockum and the Rockum Radio Show on CFRC 101.9 FM, Yegor Savonin offered deeper insight into the songwriting process, the themes behind the album, the importance of collaboration and orchestration, and the personal circumstances that ultimately gave the record an additional layer of meaning.

For more about the album, read: Fires in the Distance Announce 'Circadian Promise' Album Ahead of June 12 Release

Interview conducted by Gino Alache – Music Journalist / Editor of Rockum