Ending Life Slowly is the eighth album by Connecticut-based Autumns Eyes, the solo project of Daniel Mitchell. Fittingly, it’s due for release on Halloween, when those of us in the northern hemisphere will find the door to the dead of winter opened by ghouls and goblins. Yet although Mitchell has frequently found inspiration from the changing colors and supernatural hauntings of late October, the new album was more inspired by what comes after. In Mitchell’s words:

“Living in New England has always made it easy to draw from the month of October for creative inspiration, with life breathing its flaming colors into all the surrounding trees. Unfortunately, these themes can only be revisited every so often before it becomes repetitive. That’s why I reached into the month of November for inspiration. A time when Fall is still thriving, but where color has faded and the trees are bare as skeletons.

“While a walk through the woods here in October can be a relaxing activity, doing the same in November carries an overwhelming sense of dread. You’re surrounded by death, and the trees no longer sway and breathe with the air. They’re cold, stiff, bare, and knock together like bones breaking in the sky. Continue reading »