Dominic Parker (mastermind behind The Sympathy of All Things) has a theory about love: that it works like the universe — always expanding, always making more room than you thought existed. It’s the idea behind Alight, the new single, co-written with Adam Bowman and recorded, fittingly, in two separate bedrooms hundreds of miles apart before the two ever stood in the same room with it.

A year has passed since AMARGI — the album that took the band through five states this summer, playing new arrangements of old songs to crowds who’d waited five years for a follow-up. Alight is the first sign of what comes after that wait: something quieter, more atmospheric, built less on distance covered than on distance closed. Below, Dominic and Adam talk tunings and telepathy, falsetto as vulnerability, and why the California desert – the same stretch of land that shaped Frank Zappa and Aldous Huxley – keeps writing itself into their songs whether they mean it to or not.

Hi guys, it’s great to speak with you. The new single Alight is a love song whose emotional weight is carried through an arrangement that keeps expanding around the vocal, with Adam adding another musical perspective to the recording. Before the production took shape, what was the first line or musical phrase that gave the song its emotional centre?

Adam: The first musical phrase came from a one‑minute audio clip I sent Dom in August of last year. I’d been sitting on an idea built around a strange tuning I fell in love with after learning Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love.” I’m obsessed with alternate tunings, and for “Alight” I used C G E G C C — essentially an open C. I’d also been listening to a lot of Dom’s music while learning his songs on bass, and I felt this riff would fit naturally into his sonic world. 

Dominic: We recorded the guitars and synths in our respective bedroom studios before I tracked the final vocals with my longtime producer and collaborator, Diego Hodge of Valley Crest Recording. The theme of the song is cosmic love, and every lyric was written with that in mind. I wanted the song to speak to the consciousness‑expanding nature of love — how it fills our inner space with possibility and hope, much like outer space is ever‑expanding. The lyrics use cosmic imagery to tie that together. Lovers are lights in the darkness for one another; they see the potential in their beloved even when no one else does. In the same way, stars thousands of light‑years away shine for souls in a distant future. I knew the song needed to evoke that perspective. 

The upper layers of Alight remain in constant motion, while the rhythm section gives each change a firm physical pulse. What late addition to the arrangement changed how you heard the parts already in place?

Dominic: Because Adam and I handled most of the production ourselves from our bedrooms, much of “Alight” was already in place before bringing it to Diego for final touches and mixing. However, the vocal melody shifted a bit during the tracking at Valley Crest. Diego has a great ear for emotional nuance, and he helped me adjust a few notes to maximize their impact. I was already happy with what Adam and I had built, but Diego’s guidance during those final vocal sessions really brought the whole song together. 

Light Travels Faster Than Sound has its own musical identity, so you and Adam Bowman needed a shared vocabulary for translating abstract ideas into concrete decisions. Was there a reference, phrase or piece of studio shorthand that became especially useful while you shaped the song together?

Adam: I approached this song with atmosphere in mind. It’s a spacious ballad, and I wanted listeners to feel that openness. There are many elements in the track that I’m personally proud of. Combining my acoustic guitar work and open tunings with what Dom brings to the table opened my eyes to new ways of achieving the atmospheric sound I was chasing. I drew a lot of inspiration from the band Foxing, especially their second full‑length album Dealer, which is full of creative, atmospheric instrumentation. 

Dominic: Adam and I spent a lot of time trading reference tracks. My biggest touchstones for “Alight” were “Song for You” by Rhye and “Tumbling Lights” by The Acid. The Rhye track became our shorthand for the falsetto vocal style in the choruses, while the Acid track guided us with its ethereal production and four‑on‑the‑floor kick pattern. As we tracked parts across our rooms, we leaned heavily on those influences to make decisions. If we’ve done our jobs right, “Alight” will feel both familiar and divergent to listeners. 

The falsetto vocal occupies a delicate register while the track beneath it remains deep and forceful. How did choosing that vocal range change the emotional position of the narrator?

Dominic: My voice naturally sits in a tenor range, so falsetto often finds its way into my vocal parts. But because “Alight” relies so much on the steady pulse of the kick drum and bass guitar, I made an early decision to lean into falsetto on the chorus melody to heighten the contrast between the vocal and the rhythm section. Falsetto feels like a more emotional register to me, so it suits the track’s energy. It’s a tender singing style for a tender acoustic‑electronic indie ballad. 

AMARGI had a full year to exist beyond the studio before new music arrived. What creative question from that album stayed with you longest after its release?

Dominic: It’s hard to believe AMARGI is already a year old — time flies. But giving that album a full year to breathe before releasing anything new was intentional. AMARGI took five years to craft, and we’ve toured twice to support it since last August. If there’s a lingering creative question from that album, it’s this: How can The Sympathy of All Things continue exploring the intersection of acoustic and electronic instrumentation? The extensive touring over the last two years helped answer that. Our live show blends acoustic instruments like metallophone, drums, and auxiliary percussion with highly synthetic tones from drum samples and synthesizers. “Alight” is the first of several new experiments in that direction. 

Before The Sympathy Of All Things had releases behind it, its earliest songs emerged during a particular period in your life. Take us back to that period: what was happening around you when those separate ideas first began to belong to the same project?

Dominic: The earliest Sympathy songs date back to my first years playing guitar. For example, the main riff in “A Little More Every Day” was something I wrote at 15. I tried adapting it for my old band Sound Curfew before realizing it didn’t belong in a hard‑rock context. Many songs that ended up on Translucence had similar journeys. That first Sympathy album grew out of my need to pursue a style unconstrained by the limits of a three‑piece rock band. It was also a monument to the coming‑of‑age experiences that shaped me in the late 2010s. I needed a vessel to seek a new kind of emotional catharsis. The Sympathy of All Things has been exactly that — and more. 

The High Desert gives the project a geographic home, and everyday life there brings its own pace, working hours and access to other musicians. What aspect of an ordinary day there enters your creative routine most clearly?

Dominic: The California High Desert — especially the Antelope Valley — is a mystical place. We’re surrounded by mountains that scatter the sun’s light beautifully at dawn and dusk. The region cultivates a unique artistic spirit. It’s home to figures as avant‑garde as Frank Zappa, as iconic as Judy Garland, and as visionary as Aldous Huxley. The natural beauty here deeply influences the artists who live in it. For “Alight,” the pure starlight of our desert nights was a powerful image during the writing process. But more than anything, it’s the expansive views that seep into an artist’s mind. The landscape widens your consciousness. 

When an unfinished The Sympathy Of All Things song needs an outside ear, whose judgment do you trust enough to reopen a decision you had already settled?

Dominic: The first person I usually turn to is my longtime producer, Diego Hodge. I trust him immensely. More recently, I’ve also leaned on Dan Carabeo of Gutsy Ponzi for her perspective on vocal harmonies — her ear for that is unbeatable. 

Love songs invite listeners to search for autobiography, while an artist still decides where the project ends and private life begins. Where have you chosen to draw that boundary as the catalogue has grown?

Dominic: The Sympathy of All Things is a deeply personal project. I put a lot of myself into the lyrics and instrumentation. But the music is also meant to invite the listener’s own reflection. I want the work to act as a canvas people can paint with their own experiences. The lyrics are intentionally open to multiple interpretations, and I never want to become so specific or time‑locked that I lose that flexibility. 

Release dates such as AMARGI and Alight provide the public timeline of The Sympathy Of All Things. What recent moment in your musical life brought you the greatest personal satisfaction away from those public milestones?

Dominic: I’m incredibly proud of our recent Southwest Tour this summer. We played seven shows across California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. We performed new versions of older songs like “Oceans” and debuted “Alight” for the first time. In every city we met inspiring artists, community leaders, and music lovers of all kinds. The memories I made with my bandmates in our cozy (but mighty) tour bus are ones I’ll cherish in this life and the next. 

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