Brandon Williams makes resonant songs that capture isolation and resilience. Under the moniker Chastity, he’s released his first music of a new era with new single ‘Summer All Over Again’, out today via Big Scary Monsters (UK) / Deathwish Inc. (US) / Dine Alone Records (Canada). The ultimate summer anti-anthem is a collision of classic emo sonics, scuzzed up guitars and an impassioned vocal, which will have you singing along in no time. As Williams says “Summer used to feel yellow, now it feels blue, it’s like damn Winter 2. This song’s about that quiet melancholy, like when you’re outside on a perfect day, and you miss your cue to be happy.”
The Whitby Ontario musician has made three unrelentingly perceptive albums, with his latest ‘Suffer Summer’ being released January 13, 2022. The LP capped off an album trilogy that showcased both Williams’ emotional range as a lyricist but also his boundless love of outsider music. His 2018 debut ‘Death Lust’ pulled from Unwound and The Smashing Pumpkins as he grappled with mortality while 2019’s ‘Home Made Satan’ dealt in world-weary anxiety and Hum-like atmospherics. But 2022’s ‘Suffer Summer’ was a meditation on happiness, channeled through powerhouse riffs and undeniably potent choruses, was sung with Mineral and Jimmy Eat World worn on his sleeve. It was an album that shows how healing and staying content is hard but necessary work.
Chastity has toured with the likes of Fucked Up and Alexisonfire. A formative musical influence for Williams, Alexisonfire and City and Colour’s Dallas Green even appears as a guest vocalist on ‘Vicious Circle,’ which is the emotional centerpiece of ‘Suffer Summer’.