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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $9 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Comes in a beautiful gatefold eco-wallet with artwork by Natalia Drepina and 20-page booklet in the style of a Victorian book of verses, conceived and written by Michael Serafin-Wells with vintage photos, song lyrics and narrative poems, layout/art direction by NY School of Visual Design's Audun Grimstad.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Dream Together via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days
    edition of 300 

      $9 USD or more 

     

  • Limited edition bigger version (9 1/2 inches square) version of the DREAM TOGETHER booklet that comes with CD. In the style of a Victorian book of verses, with song lyrics, vintage photos (c/o Prelinger Archive) and a handful of narrative poems (some voiced on the album) written by Michael especially for inclusion. Includes DREAM TOGETHER cover image by Natalia Drepina with layout/art direction by The New York School of Visual Arts's Audun Grimstad.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Dream Together via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days
    edition of 100 

      $10 USD

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Comes in a beautiful gatefold eco-wallet with artwork by Natalia Drepina and 20-page big booklet in the style of a Victorian book of verses, conceived and written by Michael Serafin-Wells with vintage photos, song lyrics and narrative poems, layout/art direction by NY School of Visual Design's Audun Grimstad.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Dream Together via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days

      $17 USD or more 

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    18
    releases

    Get all 18 Bipolar Explorer releases available on Bandcamp and save 40%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Distant Horizon, In The Hours Left Until Dawn, 10th Anniversary "Of Love and Loss" Live Solo Set, Forests, Voices, Coastlines, Dreams: Recordings for The Dark Outside, Deux Anges, eleven:eleven, The Dark Outside, The Light Within, Til Morning Is Nigh: A Dream of Christmas, and 10 more. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $62.40 USD or more (40% OFF)

     

1.
Thirteen 05:56
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(instrumental)
2.
Not Alone 05:38
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Wherever you are We’re just a heartbeat apart And I’m not alone With no arms to hold me Let your spirit enfold me I’m not alone Light my candles In all and holy trust Pray over the pieces But it’ll never be enough Nobody told me And the saints ain’t coming through Help me summon my faith The same way I believe in you And should Grace befall And I hear you call I’ll know Let all Grace befall For I hear you call It’s so Through the night with lights on And into the day Forever broken I’ll remain un-awoken Til I hear you say Wherever you are We’re just a heartbeat apart And I’m not alone With no arms to hold me Let your spirit enfold me I’m not alone
3.
Dream 3 06:16
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When it’s all but over When there’s no one true When I fall and failing When I ache for you When it’s all too heavy When I feel so small When there’s only heaven The precious spell and time will tell The world the tale How I’m in love with you I do When the day betrays me I can only crawl When I’m far past caring For myself at all (anymore) When I’m so forsaken When the darkness falls When I pray just to be taken The precious spell and time will tell The world the tale How I’m in love In holy dreams You speak and come to me In a fountain mystic thick And coolly in your hair You beckon to Then kiss and hold me I beg to stay forever there
4.
Radioside 06:23
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Radioside Ear to the mirror To hear ya calling Sheer veneer Shimmer and shine Words ascend, electric speed Cascade right back to me On the radioside You’re all ethereal Miracle material Words ascend, electric speed Cascade right back to me On the radioside You’re all ethereal Miracle material
5.
View 04:18
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(instrumental)
6.
Listen 05:24
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The more I listen for At silence’s door The life before So bruised and sore My spirit torn For evermore If I could only Fly Fly to you No matter where I turn With every breath I only yearn And ache and weep And beg and burn And pray each day For your return Fly Fly to you Rest now In the garden of ours And I’ll be along To reverse every wrong In just a little while I’ll meet you there Listen Through the tallest of trees And the warm Summer breeze In just a little while I’ll meet you there
7.
Fireflies 04:47
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(instrumental)
8.
Ever and Ever Forever 06:04
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Hey! Shine your light on Shine your light on Shine your light on me You’re a sight for sorest eyes The most heavenly surprise And I believe, yeah I do I believe, I believe ‘cause of you Hey! Shine your light on Shine your light on - shine your light on me A thousand times I prayed to die Just to let me find you somehow inside the sky But now I see Yeah, it’s true I can see I can see ‘cause it’s you Shine your light on me... And you never left my shattered heart You’re all and everything I ever wanted from the start And I believe, yeah I do I believe, I believe ‘cause it’s you And all the pain that came before All those fled no-weather friends It doesn’t matter anymore I believe! I believe and it’s true! I believe! And I’m here now with you! Shine your light on! Shine your light on! Shine your light on me Ever and ever forever and ever And I don’t mind Ever and ever forever and ever Shine your light on! Shine your light on! Shine your light on me! You’re a sight for sorest eyes The most heavenly surprise And I believe, yeah I do. I believe, I believe ‘cause it’s you Ever and ever forever and ever Shine your light on me
9.
Along Those Lines 02:56
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(instrumental)
10.
She Hears You Calling 05:05
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She hears you calling Early this morning As day broke to dawn As dreams gave way to waking I heard this psalm Your angel was there with a message she sent for you She’s heartsick and worried And only wishes you knew ‘Cause it’s so very true She hears you calling She knows how you're aching and lonely The pain you can hardly bear But lead with your heart and don’t break apart She’s preparing a place for you there She hears you calling And she remembers and loves you more Than merely mortal On earth You could ever know And she promises Just keep the faith In the blink of an eye Together you’ll go She hears you calling
11.
Tail O'er Fin 05:18
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Well, it’s two if by sea One if by dry land And it may not be the way We had things planned But the riptide’s strong And I can’t see the shore I’m under for the third time And you’re the stuff Of mariner’s lore Don’t you know that I’m all the way in? Head over heels And tail right over fin Trailing your long red hair, you take me there Down twenty thousand leagues It's magic there And I don’t care That I can’t really breath As we swim by And seahorse ride Smile each aquatic friend Past Octopus Garden So happy, I’m starting To get the bends If it’s only just a dream Don’t wake me Don’t wanna know Take me wherever your spirit may lead me Into the deep blue And below Curled up with you on the seabed I’ll come to know Gratefully in your arms in our new home Life’s as before In this parallel universe All lost is found Thank god I drowned Ya know? It could be worse... Don’t you know that I’m all the way in? Head over heels and tail right over fin With you
12.
To The Other Half Of The Sky 10:37
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I need you more than ever Tell me the story Of where we come from And then return So deep inside my heart Where you’ll remain and always burn The most beautiful spirit Ascension! The miracle made true Blessed, precious treasure Need you more than ever I need you more than ever God bless your soul I need you more than ever

about

NYC dreampop trio, Bipolar Explorer, follow up their critically-acclaimed albums "Of Love And Loss" and "Angels" (Best Albums of the Year, 2013 & 2015 - Ground Control Magazine) with this breathtaking new work. "Eclectic, steadfast, powerful" - PopMatters

ABOUT THIS ALBUM: Their sixth album, NYC dreampop trio Bipolar Explorer follow up their critically acclaimed albums “Of Love and Loss” and “Angels” (Best Albums of the Year - Ground Control Magazine, 2013 and 2015, respectively) with this breathtaking new work.

Released on New Year’s Day 2017, DREAM TOGETHER found immediate praise from WFMU’s Liz Berg as “just a great album for winter” and USC filmmaker and author Alexandra Dennis-Renner writing on the day of its release “in light of a new year, I encourage everybody to snap up a copy of Bipolar Explorer's new album, "Dream Together", that dropped with the ball today. Every song on "Dream Together" is a reminder that the end of one thing is not necessarily the beginning of something new--not a hard reset--but the continuation of what was through the lens of what could be. What will be. And proof that there is always love, hope, and strength in that journey. There's something here for you and you are loved.”

Finding airplay on Irene Trudel's show ("beautiful, great drifty pop, full of sadness and wonder") as well as Joe McGasko's and the aforementioned Ms. Berg, all on WFMU, and charting at #18 on California's free-form KDVS in the first weeks after its release, DREAM TOGETHER was received glowingly in France in a review by Raphael Duprez for Indiemusic Magazine:

"New York’s Bipolar Explorer offers a new album, their sixth, Dream Together (Slugg Records) which is as much a reverie as a dream burning and crawling gently under our bare skins. In perpetual search for the discovery of the unknown, the trio delivers a work as simple as it is majestic and pure. The guitars charged with reverb and delay, voices and choruses distant but warm, all in an atmosphere as moist as light, like a refreshing breeze before the storm. Daring and emotionally naked, doubtless this record may undo some. But we must yield to the temptation, the inexorable attraction of these magical and nostalgic, deep and milky songs. Alternatingly dark ("Thirteen", “View”), angelic and aerial (“Dream 3”), painful and urgent (“She Hears You Calling”), catching and cathartic, the album closes with the ten-minute epic "To The Other Half Of The Sky” - loaded with palpable electricity as well as an ultimate tour de force in softness - the group relaxing its muscles and leaving notes hovering long after its ultimate resonances. Devilishly endearing, Dream Together offers that rare possibility for us to traverse vast lands, leaving so primordial a place for our imagination, all by means of sonics that are literally enveloping and vibrating. A LP that is drunk, slowly, to better quench thirst. A walk through the clouds, without worrying about the next day."

DREAM TOGETHER is available both as a digital download and as a limited-edition CD with a beautiful 20-page booklet including song lyrics, narrative poems and vintage photos in the style of a Victorian book of verses, written and conceived by frontman Michael Serafin-Wells and art directed by the New York School of Visual Arts’s Audun Grimstad.

ABOUT THE BAND: Their double-album, OF LOVE AND LOSS (2013) - "The most significantly stirring and addictive musical accomplishment we've come across in some time. Taut, emotional, urgent and altogether haunting” - and its follow-up, ANGELS (2015) - “Electrifying, what music fueled by raw love and emotions sounds like” - each a Critics Pick for Best Albums of the Year by Ground Control Magazine, Bipolar Explorer are an NYC-based dreampop, post-rock group founded by Summer Serafin (vocals) and former Uncle frontman Michael Serafin-Wells (lead guitar & vocals, bass and percussion), notable for intimate, electric live performances, unimpeachable songwriting, uncompromising DIY ethos and their playing without drums.

Featured on the legendary Irene Trudel's show on WFMU ("America's best radio station" - Rolling Stone) who calls their sound "beautiful, great drifty pop, full of sadness and wonder", the band’s newest record, DREAM TOGETHER, is released on Slugg Records New Years Day 2017.

Recorded, mixed and produced by the band at The Shrine in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, DREAM TOGETHER is the group’s sixth album overall and their second in just the span of a year.

In June 2016, the group released ELECTRIC HYMNAL, a sixteen track collection of devotional songs and spoken word (both secular and sacred) - a meditation and sonic prayer for their fallen bandmate, Michael's true love and partner, Summer Serafin - in a limited edition one-time pressing on CD only (no digital), offering it free of charge, as a gift of faith.

Again, praised by Ground Control: "...Get ready to be swept up and away by a prayerful reverie of melodies. Listening, I began to feel like I was flying. Don’t forget that Bipolar Explorer is a post-rock band. Low growling vocals, gnarly grinding tempos, rhythmic looping strands that escape and rise above the weight of this world, where angels and the living mingle…"

The interweaving of spoken word into the band’s work was explained by Serafin-Wells recently in conversation with USC filmmaker, Alexandra Dennis-Renner, who is making a documentary, "Sonic Prayer", about the band.

Having begun work on a live performance art adaptation of their double-album, OF LOVE AND LOSS - first presented as a "concert performance" in Brooklyn in October 2015 and expected to premiere in a found, possibly sacred venue sometime early-2017 - Serafin-Wells says,“the idea of a female voice, a spoken word narrator, came to mind. To tell the story in tandem with the band, supported by film projections. And once I wrote the narrative voice for the live Of Love, that just started to seem a natural thing, making its way into ELECTRIC HYMNAL and DREAM TOGETHER. Ya know? In that way that things sort of cross-pollinate through multiple projects. We were listening a lot to Laurie Anderson’s “Heart of A Dog” at the time and we kinda thought… yeah.”

In artistic collaboration with several visual artist friends of the band, both "Of Love and Loss" and "Dream Together" are conceived for performance as live installation pieces, in intimate, non-traditional settings. Immersive and multi-media, this direction might well be seen as a natural outgrowth of the band’s perennial choice of performance setting - art galleries - and other non-traditional venues.

Forging an unique sound - described variously as shoegaze, dreampop, slowcore, post-rock and minimalist indie - well serves the new songs Serafin-Wells began writing in the aftermath of the tragic loss of the group's female vocalist, Michael's love and partner, Summer Serafin, who passed away after a tragic accident in 2011. She was just 31. At work at the time on a new record, the group eventually returned to those recordings, adding them to a handful of newly written songs post-tragedy and re-conceiving the album as both a testament and tribute to Ms. Serafin – muse, collaborator and True Love - yielding a double-album, Of Love and Loss, released to great acclaim in October 2012.

As Michael told Indiemusic’s Raphael Duprez in a feature about the band (February 2017): “All of this is entirely for her. I often say that our music, each album, is of, for and about her. It’s my way of telling people about her and talking to her myself. That’s the “for’ and “about” parts of the equation. And Summer remains an integral part of the band - not only as its inspiration but, because I have lots of her isolated vocals from other recording sessions - as her voice, both spoken and singing, graces each record. I’ll write songs and fly in her voice. Summer isn’t the main reason BPX goes on, she’s the only reason. She is the reason. And I think I can trust that I’m doing things for the right reason if I always know the reason for it is her. Not out of any ambition other than to honor and conjure her. She’s my conscience..."

Bipolar Explorer's releases include "Dream Together" (2017), "Electric Hymnal" (2016), "Angels" (2015), their holiday album - "BPXmas" (2014), "Of Love and Loss" (2012), the digital-only singles "Watchers and Holy Ones" (2017), "We'll All Go Together" (2016) and "Downtown Train" (2015) and their earlier (pre-Summer) debut "Go Negative". All titles are available on Slugg Records.

credits

released January 1, 2017

Summer Serafin: vocals.
Michael Serafin-Wells: guitars, bass, percussion, vocals.

Additional spoken word - Kim Donovan.

Recorded and mixed live, noisily and in a hurry at The Shrine - New York City.

Produced and mixed by Bipolar Explorer.
Mastered by Scott Craggs, Old Colony - Boston.
Cover image: “Drowse” by Natalia Drepina.
Booklet conceived by Michael Serafin-Wells.
Art direction/layout: Audun Grimstad.

All songs by Michael Serafin-Wells, c. 2017 Thirteen November Music (ASCAP), c/p Slugg Records.

Dream Together is conceived for and imagined as a live performance arts installation with a spoken word narration component and visuals as alluded to within this booklet. For inquiries, visual artist collaboration and bookings, contact the band via their website: www.bipolarexplorer.info

For Summer who filled my life with light and love and who is with me, I know. Not least of all for coming to me in dreams with several of these songs. In that magic place, between sleep and wake, I would quickly reach bedside to sing them into my phone before rising and figuring out the rest on guitar in the light of dawn. Little sweetheart, thank you. I know with all my soul that we are indeed “just a heartbeat apart”. With all my love forever...

-Michael Serafin-Wells, New York City, Jan 1, 2017

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Bipolar Explorer New York, New York

"Holy sonic icons. There is hauntology. Hauntology right in the center of their work."-Max Reinhardt (BBC 3/Soho Radio)

"Magical & majestic." -Indiemusic (France).

"Great, beautiful drifty-pop filled with sadness & wonder" -Irene Trudel (WFMU)

"Mysterious. Otherworldly.” - Carson Street, KFJC

NYC-based experimental dreampop trio of Summer Serafin, Michael Serafin-Wells & Sylvia Solanas. ... more

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