The Burning Paris are a six-piece band from Boston combining post-punk, shoegaze, neo-classical and dream pop. Their emogaze “Coffin Bells” was included in episode 27 of blank mood. With a couple of guitars at their disposal, they’re not afraid to blow you away with a wall of sound. However, there’s something about band member Jenny Townsend’s piano parts that remind me of that dramatic, bittersweet flair that Roger O’Donnell brings to The Cure.
“Coffin Bells” is from the band’s forthcoming album Last Leaves. Guitarist and lead vocalist Nate Shumaker is a high school comrade of mine, so he and bandmate Chris answered a few questions about “Coffin Bells” and the forthcoming album. If you like sinking into the sad of a Cure album, I think you’ll like Last Leaves. Winter is coming, so you’ll want an accompaniment for some cold and rainy Friday night. The Burning Paris will provide the mood, you light the candles.
//wendy
What's the story behind The Burning Paris song "Coffin Bells”?
Nate Shumaker (vocals, guitar): “Coffin Bells” was one of the first ones we wrote for the new record - or maybe it was the first one we finished. We'd left off with a pretty good break-up record Everything is Broken & I Don’t Feel a Thing, and while there was always the intent of showing growth beyond the previous effort, it followed a trajectory in the lyrics. It's about a final hope. A final glimmer of a relationship that probably had to end, even though there was still a lot of love. It's about the final shine of a day with someone you know you love, but just know it's slipping away. By nature, coffins sound morbid, but the old coffin bells routine was more of a mistake. We buried the dead too quickly. Or maybe it was just hope that drove the notion? When Jenny (cello, piano) came up with the title, the concept of the lyrics just worked and clicked for me. Those final words had to be said like some sort of messed up eulogy.
Can you tell us about the artwork for “Coffin Bells”?
Nate: Our new record is titled Last Leaves, so I kind of bounced off that theme. Flower petals can represent joy or sadness depending on how they are portrayed or used. I went with dead roses because it fit with the idea of a funeral. As a designer I've always been a fan of visceral imagery, in mixing elegance and gritty textures, but following it up with simple and often overlooked type faces. Each single portrays a different flower and theme.
Chris Lordan (bass): Last Leaves indicate a hanging on to hope when all else is lost. It seems there are always a few that refuse to die even when all others are gone.
Your album Last Leaves is just about to be released - can you tell us a little something about it and what to expect?
Nate: Since we're a six-piece band (three guitars, bass, drums, cello/piano, and vocals) there's obviously a lot of influences people bring to the table. We'd added our 6th member, Jesse, right as we were wrapping up the last record to help with a fuller sound. His style kind of adds more of a post-rock feel to everything. One reference we have gotten more of on this one is our obvious homage to The Cure, which I don't think a single one of us would complain about. Chris and I came from a heavier music background, as did Brad, so I think that always makes us a bit heavier at the end of the day than other, more traditional shoegaze type bands.
Chris: With so many people in the band, we are being careful to craft songs in which we give each other space and let the song take the lead. In the past we've been guilty of too many things happening at once, but we are finding our way with letting everyone contribute without burying the overall melody and structure of the tune.
Can you give us a bit of background on the band members of The Burning Paris?
Nate: I am Nate and I play guitar and sing. I pretty much do design in my day-to-day life. I do fine art stuff too with a lot of digital collage. I also enjoy hanging out and listening to records with my 21-pound cat Edward. Haha. Chris can fill in on the rest…
Chris: We all have career jobs and some of us have kids. We all have been in bands for our entire adult lives and still do this despite having other life obligations. We love what we do and think staying creative with like-minded people is so important.
What is the shoegaze scene like in Boston and how do you fit into it?
Nate: Well there's a bunch of shoegaze type bands in the area, The Shallows who we've played with are excellent. There's also a band from New Hampshire called Bedroom Eyes. Then there's the post-rock bands that kind of flirt with shoegaze, like Glacier and Pray for Sound.
What kind of fans do you have and how have you built a fan base?
Nate: Well, we were a band in the early 2000's first, but we imploded before we could make a third record. But we were one of the earlier ones doing what we do. We kinda had a rule to play with anyone that it made sense to. Back then the scenes were less contrived. Ted Leo could play a show with Kid Dynamite or The Burning Paris could play a basement show with a bunch of hardcore bands and it was cool to do it. Now it's more about genres and similar sounds, but I think some touring and making a couple of records that mattered to people back then helped a lot. I didn't even know our stuff was on streaming services when that whole thing happened. I went on to play in On Fire with Josh and Jenny from The Burning Paris after we disbanded, then Eksi Ekso for a record, then Lavinia before we put The Burning Paris back together. I had't been paying attention, then I saw our track “In Ruins” had 27k listens, so I guess we reach some people because none of that existed back when we were a band the first time.
How do band members feel about issues in the music / creative industries like AI-generated music (or artwork), and Spotify?
Nate: I think AI-generated music is kinda just a silly thing. Sure it's interesting for humans to play with new technology, but the notion of packaging it and selling it as "real" is pretty sad to me. Spotify and streaming stuff while sure convenient for portable listening takes a lot of the art away. As a designer I hate it. Here's a tiny thumbnail of artwork that took weeks and months to put together and a record that a lot of time an energy was spent on to just be played on a whim. There's not much value attached to it. When your subscription is like $13 a month it's easy to gloss over stuff. The Burning Paris isn't the size enough to be pulling our records off those sites, but this time out we're not spending a ton of energy to boost listens there because we barely make anything off of it. So, other than using it as a promotional tool, I try to steer people to buying the physical stuff.
What else would you like listeners/readers to know about The Burning Paris?
Nate: Maybe that we're a lot more fun and approachable than we sound? I mean if you see us play, come say hi -- we're pretty fun.
Chris: We are musicians but also total fans of music. Jesse missed our show playing with Ranges because he was already headed to Indiana - to see Ranges. We love and respect many of the bands we've gotten to play with and are always looking to connect with cool people whether musicians or not. We love photographers, graphic artists, record enthusiasts...anyone who is creative and cool. We hope to be around for the long haul to keep doing what we do, and look forward to what's next for us and all of our friends.
Does The Burning Paris have any plans for the rest of 2025 or into 2026?
Nate: We have a record release show scheduled for September 19th in Arlington, Massachusetts with our friends Circus Trees, and then a show in Brooklyn October 4th. Lots of things are still being felt out, but the best bet is to follow The Burning Paris FB page for future dates and news. We're working on a new website, but it's slow going. There will be a video coming too, as Jon our guitar player is also a great filmmaker.
Last Leaves by The Burning Paris releases September 5, 2025.