American doom band Frayle will release their third full-length ”Heretics & Lullabies” on October 10. In a focused conversation, vocalist Gwyn Strang and guitarist Sean Bilovecky outline a record grounded in heartbreak, mental health, and the everyday ways heresy is defined and misread.
The album was written over roughly eighteen months and finished nearly a year ago. Most recording happened in the band’s home studio, with drums done in New Jersey. For the first time, Frayle brought in an outside producer, Aaron Chaparian, who mixed and mastered the record. His role was far from cosmetic, small structural moves like the long breath before the first chorus of their ”Summertime Sadness” cover, shifted songs in ways that won the band over.
Lead single ”Walking Wounded” became the opening statement and the song and the video landed together. Two of four finished videos are already out, two more are scheduled, with additional videos planned after. The visual language remains consistent carried forward from earlier work and reinforced by recent summer festival appearances.
Frayle’s writing process is direct and divided. Bilovecky handles riffs and arrangements, Strang writes melodies and lyrics, and they meet in the middle only when it’s time to finalize. Earlier attempts to steer each other’s parts were dropped. The priority now is simple, write for themselves and ignore genre categorization. That attitude is mirrored in the sound choices, real drums that aren’t grid-perfect, guitars left human, vocals deliberately imperfect to keep the vulnerability intact. The goal was an “almost-to-tape” feel without actually tracking to tape.
“Summertime Sadness” was chosen because it fits the band’s melancholy core. The verse was stripped to voice, drums, and a stark guitar line, then rebuilt from there. Across the album, tone matters as much as notes, heavy, droning layers often come from mixing a tiny Fender-style clone with larger amps to get the right grit and size.
Lyrically, Strang writes from a long-running notebook of lines and images. Two songs sit heaviest: ”Souvenirs of Your Betrayal” written as a deliberate heartbreaker, and ”Hymn for the Living” shaped by personal losses during the pandemic. Some of it is too raw to perform live right now, which is the point, the songs were designed to carry real weight.
The most difficult part of making “Heretics & Lullabies” wasn’t the music—it was waiting to release it at the right time. In the meantime, the next cycle has already started. Bilovecky keeps a library of hundreds of riffs and new material is being banked. The plan from here is clear, keep the process honest, and let the songs speak without sanding off the edges.
Frayle interview 15.08.2025
Producer: Janne Vuorela
https://frayleband.com/
Picture: Rebecca Bush / Frayle
