The Soil & The Sun will call it quits; Grand Rapids band launches final tour in November

The award-winning atmospheric folk-rock band from Grand Rapids called it “a difficult announcement” to make, but says it’s time to “close out this chapter.”

 

Award-winning Grand Rapids spacey folk-rock band The Soil & The Sun will call it quits after the group’s upcoming fall tour which will take the group from Philadelphia to Dallas over the next month.

Band frontman Alex McGrath on Friday posted the news on the band’s Facebook page, calling it “a bit of a difficult announcement” and one that he’d been putting off.

“It is very sad and was a challenging decision to make, but the time has come to close out this chapter and to move into new seasons as musicians and persons,” he wrote. “Feels tough, but right. I personally can’t wait to see and hear what the next phase holds for each of us. New things will grow out of this, for sure.”

McGrath told Local Spins that the move came “after many late nights and heavy conversations” in recent months with his wife, Ashley, who sings and plays keyboards in the band.

“Ashley and I have come to the decision that our time playing music as the Soil & the Sun has run its course. The decision was mostly precipitated by the desire to pursue new ideas, musical and other,” he said.

“Being in this band has been an amazing chapter of our lives, but sometimes you have to lay a season to rest in order for the next one to begin. Right now, we’re just feeling incredibly grateful for everything that was able to come about through this band and the support of so many kind and generous people.”

AWARD-WINNING, FAN-INSPIRING LEGACY

Since forming in 2008, The Soil & The Sun has earned national acclaim for its ethereal, “experiential spiritual folk” strains, music that earned the band Jammie Awards from WYCE-FM and the Local Spin of the Year award for its 2014 album, “Meridian.” The band also drew mammoth, capacity crowds for many of its shows, including an inspiring album-release concert at Founders Brewing in Grand Rapids.

After three members of the seven-piece ensemble left the group in 2015, the atmospheric indie-folk ensemble chose to continue as a foursome, led by Alex and Ashley McGrath, with Benjamin Baker-Johnson and Kellen Kirwin also aboard.

The band earlier this year released a two-song EP, “Actual Replica, Vol. 1,” and told Local Spins in June that it hoped to continue touring and recording with “a more focused sound, more defined, more on purpose.”

In Friday’s Facebook announcement, McGrath thanked fans who’ve “housed us, fed us, bathed us, entertained us, rescued us, cheered us up, put clothes on our backs, jammed with us, encouraged us, and have been incredibly kind and generous. I can’t even begin to say what it has meant to us.”

As part of The Soil & The Sun’s final tour, which kicks off Nov. 10 in Philadelphia, the band will play The Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids on Nov. 19.

“Grand Rapids has been good to us,” McGrath told Local Spins. “Yeah, and we’re so glad to have this last tour and a couple of Michigan shows booked so we can leave it all on the court, ya know? One more for the road.”

The final scheduled concert for The Soil & The Sun will take place Dec. 3 at House of Independents in Asbury Park, N.J. Alex McGrath also will play a special solo show on Wednesday (Nov. 2) at SpeakEZ Lounge, opening for Miss Atomic as part of the Local Spins Wednesdays series.

“If this band has meant something to you in any way, I hope you can make it out to one of these final shows, and we can blast off together one more time before we all head into the future,” McGrath wrote on Facebook. “Here’s to the changing of seasons.”

Read more about The Soil & The Sun and listen to its most recent music in this Local Spins Artist Spotlight and Local Spins on WYCE podcast.

And check out the 2015 story about its Local Spin of the Year Award.

VIDEO: The Soil & The Sun, “Throughout the Night” (Local Spins on WYCE)

Copyright 2016, Spins on Music LLC