Behind The Album: Frame and Mantle's 'Well Of Light'

06-27-2025

Post-emo pioneers Frame and Mantle have just released their second studio album, "Well of Light," and to celebrate we asked guitarist Brian Thompson to tell us about the record. Here is the story:

Well of Light came together fairly quickly in the way many bands' sophomore albums do. Six years may seem like a long time between full lengths from an outsider's perspective, and it is, but the reality is that writing this album only took about a year, and recording/mixing/mastering took about six months. But getting to that point took some time. We had intended to start writing the follow up to our 2019 debut LP Lost Under Nighttime Sky, an album which took us over three years to finish, in 2020, but the universe obviously had other plans. Instead of the frequent in person collaboration we wanted to do, I (Brian T., guitars) found myself demoing ideas on my laptop by myself or occasionally with my brother (Mark, drums). Those songs were released in the form of an EP, Above a Burning World, in early 2023, in the wake of our former guitarist and bassist (Liam and Brad, respectively) leaving the band.

By the time AABW was released, we had been playing as a regrouped lineup with Connor on guitar in addition to vocal and horn duties and Scott on bass for almost a year. The chemistry from playing together was clear, and we began jamming and writing in earnest in the summer of 2023, getting together a couple times a month to write collaboratively. By the end of that year, we'd already amassed eight new songs, far more than any of us had anticipated. The writing sessions were clearly productive, but we felt we needed one final collective push to wrap up writing and live test the material all together in one room to really get a feel for whether or not the songs were truly working. So in early 2024, we rented a cabin on AirBnb out in the woods near New Castle, PA, finished writing, and recorded demos for an entire weekend with our friend Joe. Being able to be together with the whole band to disconnect and just focus on our music in a secluded place is always one of my favorite experiences. In addition to writing, we hung out by the creek behind the cabin, cooked a ton of food, played card games, and watched Dances With Wolves. If I could do that every weekend for the rest of my life, believe me, I would. By the end of all of that, we had about a dozen new songs, but decided to cut a couple that weren't fully coming together.

When it came time to record the album, we made the decision to work with Larry Luther at Mr. Smalls Recording Studio in Pittsburgh. I had heard the record he did with local alternative rock band Old Game and loved how it sounded, so we booked some time with him in mid-2024. The album was recorded in separate sessions, with Mark and Scott completing drum and bass parts first. Not too long after Scott finished recording, he moved to Rochester, so this was the final thing he did with us. All of us are incredibly grateful that he was willing to step in after Brad left, and his contributions make up some of my favorite moments on the album. Guitars were next, with Connor and I in separate tracking sessions, as well as auxiliary percussion and some horns. After all the instrumentals for the album were wrapped up, the studio actually moved from the location on the north side of Pittsburgh to its new location in the borough of Millvale, right across the street from Mr. Smalls Theater. This is where all the vocals and some more horn parts were tracked, and I think it's pretty cool that you get to hear both studio locations on this album.

We went into tracking as prepared as possible to try to stay on schedule and within budget, but we welcomed some moments of experimentation into the process. For example, the ambient backing track in opening song "Well of Light" was a spur of the moment decision I made when I was listening back to the song with Larry in the control room to try and add a bit more depth to it. I spent at least an hour fiddling with my pedals and trying a few different approaches before landing on what ended up in the final mix. When it came to mixing, it was a much more collaborative process than we had ever done before. We would come into the studio and sit in the control room with Larry and give real time feedback on the mixes, which was a really cool way to approach it versus sending notes on mixes via email. Now that we've done it this way, I don't know if I'll ever go back to the old way. Overall, though, the recording process was very smooth, and Larry was so great to work with, acting as an excellent sounding board for different ideas we wanted to try.

The artwork for the album is the final piece to the overall puzzle. We wanted to signal to listeners that this release is a bit darker than our previous LP, and thought it might be cool to reach out to an artist who's primarily known for their work with heavier bands. Our search led us to Brookesia Studio, who has worked with a lot of stoner/doom bands in addition to bands such as The World Is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die, Osees, and Amyl and the Sniffers. It was really cool getting to throw different ideas at them and see the artwork evolve, and the one that stuck was an interpretation of the Lisheen House, a supposedly haunted abandoned manor in the Irish countryside. We felt that this captured the essence of the music and contrasted nicely with the preceding album's artwork, which looked out at a wide scenic vista under the night sky and to me signaled optimism about the future, and brought it down to the personal lens, confronting the ghosts of one's past like much of the album's lyrical subject matter tackles.

To conclude, to say that this is the most excited I've ever been to release new music in my entire life would be an understatement. I believe I speak for everyone involved with this record when I say we're incredibly proud of how it turned out, and we hope it finds a home in listeners' hearts, new and old alike. If you've read this far, thanks for taking the time to listen to me ramble, and I hope you enjoy Well of Light.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the album, listen and hear for yourself below and learn more here