In 2019, while recording his debut album Unfall, Chase Tremaine decided that he would release music under his own name, forsaking his original plan to use a one-man-band stage name. On his third studio album, Accidental Days, the reasons for this decision are clearer than ever before. Tremaine shows himself as a fully-realized singer-songwriter with a willingness to play with emo, alternative, folk-pop, and indie rock. This balance vividly brings these songs to life on Tremaine’s best album yet: a concise collection about the complex intersections between faith, friendship, work, heartbreak, and aging.
The story behind Accidental Days dates back to 2012, when the Nashville-based artist spent a summer during college as a volunteer at the Grand Canyon Village.
“Looking back, most of those songs weren’t very good, but that summer was the first time when songwriting seemed like something I might actually be good at,” Tremaine says, reflecting fondly upon his time at the Grand Canyon. “It’s like something in me was unlocked, as if I received songwriting as a gift. I’ve been working hard to steward and harness it ever since.”
While mixing exploration with observation, the result is a thrilling, colorful alternative/emo-pop record featuring a philosophical outlook on life. On track “The Checklist,” Tremaine sings about the value of fighting for your friendships, even if your differences and disagreements make it easier to fight with them than to fight for them. On the single “Tired Side of Content,” he argues that life is more fulfilling when we spend our energy serving and loving others, rather than prioritizing our own comforts.
The album starts with “One Day,” a song about living in the present instead of finding anxiety in our worries about the future, and it ends with “New Creation Gray,” which shows Tremaine coping with growing older through a series of spiritual ponderings and questions. That closing track is assisted by trumpeter Brendan Dorman, who appeared on both of Tremaine’s prior albums. The album receives beautiful musical touches from bluegrass musician Theo MacMillan and up-and-comer Nick Schrader, who provide background vocals and piano solos on “Settled in the Unsettled” and “Gloriously Mundane”.
Accidental Days hits streaming services everywhere and will be available on Bandcamp to purchase on CD (or digitally for free/pay-what-you-want). The album was produced and mixed by Brendan St. Gelais (Carver Commodore, Bre Kennedy), mastered by Sean Power at the Hilson Studio, and released independently in partnership with Post Emo Records. Fans can follow Chase Tremaine at https://chasetremaine.com, where he posts behind the scenes exclusives, stories about the songs, and reviews and recommendations of music from other artists.