Comprised of five best friends, bonded together by spending (possibly too much) time on the road, there is something unabashedly and unapologetically straightforward about how the collective approaches their life in music. Jared Kolesar, frontman of the band that bears his name, lives a life of relentless motion. Touring endlessly to support his art, he’s wedged in a somewhat nomad lifestyle. “I’ve seen the sun rise and set on countless stretches of roads, beaches mountains, valleys, small towns, big cities and farms,” he shares. While the lack of stability created by his life makes connecting with people difficult sometimes and the constantly evolving environment of a traveler’s life can make a person feel like a stranger in their own skin, Kolesar has managed to gather an exceptional and perceptive understanding of people, despite often only a passing glance at them as individuals. “From these experiences I’ve realized that all anyone really wants in the world is to be happy.” He realized that the best thing a person can do to support one another individual in our constant search for purpose.
The songs off the album reflect feelings we all face like knowing we deserve better than the self-sabotaged life we offer ourselves on “Soul in Mind” (“I know it’s not my fault/but my sense of worth is a wrecking ball/It swings as soon as I look back/and hits the home I love.”) or the pain of feeling your optimism slip away as we leave behind the careless invincibility of our 20s on “Hope” (“I’m like an ink on a page/lookin’ hard for some point but I’m slowed by my age/line after line I could etch like a knife/but there’s only so much I can take of this life.”). Listeners are taken through a melodic journey as the albumsoars from heart-tugging flashes of agony into a series of beautiful moments about confidence, love bliss as we see Jared and his band of brothers find the good in the world in songs like “Break in the Ether” and “Kelsee’s Shelves.”
While on their nationwide tour, Jared & The Mill will be partnering up with the charity Can’d Aid. For every dollar sold from ticket sales, a dollar will be donated to Can’d Aid in support of their mission to spread “do-goodery.” Additionally, throughout the tour the band will be doing workshops with schools in 10 cities (dates and cities have yet to be announced) where they will donate instruments to selected schools.