The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die

One of the more dynamic bands to arise from a new wave of emo that began in the late 2000s and early 2010s, the World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die laces driving, emotionally raw songwriting with electronic elements and the drawn-out atmospheres of bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Explosions in the Sky. Their intricately molded sound changed somewhat on each of their critically applauded releases, and their lineup shifted often. TWIABP&IANLATD broke through to new audiences with their 2015 high-water mark Harmlessness, and took on a more streamlined lineup and sound on 2021′s Illusory Walls.
The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die formed in 2009 in Willimantic, Connecticut. The group went through multiple lineup changes but eventually centered around a core of vocalist David Bello, bassist Josh Cyr, guitarists Nicole Shanholtzer and Greg Horbal, drummer Steven Buttery, and additional musicians Julia Peters, Katie Dvorak, and Chris Teti. The band issued a series of demos, singles, and EPs as well as a split LP with friends Deer Leap before releasing their debut full-length, Whenever, If Ever, in 2013. A collaboration with poet Christopher Zizzamia, the Between Bodies EP, appeared the following year, and their sophomore LP, Harmlessness, arrived in autumn 2015 on the Epitaph label. The band was now minus Peters and plus guitarist Tyler Bussey and violinist Nick Kwas. Continued lineup shifts ensued, with guitarist Dylan Balliett coming aboard in 2015 as Shanholtzer stepped down. The group took a more collaborative approach on their third LP, 2017′s Always Foreign, resulting in a deeply nuanced but fiery tone.
On November 3, 2018, TWIABP&IANLATD announced via social media that Tom Diaz, the band’s original lead singer who appeared on the album Whenever, If Ever, had died. In late 2019, the group issued Assorted Works, a massive collection of songs previously released on long-sold-out split singles, compilations, and other ephemeral releases. Over the next few years, the band pared down to a quintet of core members Buttery, Cyr, Teti, Bello, and Dvorak. This streamlined version of the group recorded the sharp-edged and driving songs that became their fourth album, Illusory Walls. The record was released in October 2021, again with Epitaph. ~ Fred Thomas