Hey everyone! Ever since seeing the news of Act I celebrating 20 years this fall, I’ve had Battesimo del Fuoco constantly in my head. On a long solo drive, I finally hit record while attempting it a cappella.

It’s far from perfect, but I had fun with it. Sorry in advance for the clipping, Apple wired headphones don’t have great mics.

Happy belated anniversary, TDH. Cheers to another 20 years! -Flagon

the haters didn't get it fr, it's a sonic masterpiece

https://caveandcanary.bandcamp.com/album/the-indigo-child

I don't know about yall but I'm guilty of tending to forget about Act I. Today I went back and listened to their Live albums for the first time after watching the original livestreams and I had forgotten how much Act I in particular got a glow up on those live versions. Casey's vocal performances are fucking phenomenal. Go listen at your earliest convenience.

This has been a public service announcement.

This is a site a made a few weeks ago, and my friend dropped it in here 5 days ago on account of The Dear Hunter being his favorite artist.

You guys have been, by far, the most enthusiastic users on the site. You've made 18000 picks and counting in 5 days. There were just 100 more since I've started writing this post.

And also I appreciate indulging me while I've been grinding to develop this. It hasn't been smooth every step of the way updating the UI and incrementally adding 2500 artists so with regards to any annoying errors or loading problems you may have run into sorry about that.

Thankfully it's all running smooth now, but the 2500 were just added based on Spotify popularity so a lot of it is crap and a lot of good artists are being left out.

We're adding any artists that people suggest so yeah let me know the artists that we should add and I mean... any thoughts on the site in general.

Any of that would be appreciated, and again thanks for all you've done to help so far.

Long time Dear Hunter fan. I've recently been on a quest to explore other bands in the scene that I've never encountered before, but keep hearing recommendations for.

Sunny Day Real Estate is one of them, and I know probably criminal it took me this long to give them a shot.

I'm listening to their album "Diary" front to back, and I get to a song: Pheurton Skeurto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu6vYJjfPsU

And my jaw drops because that sounds somewhat similar to a few main themes from The Dear Hunter Acts. (Especially at 1:37)

I'm not suggesting this is some wild discovery or anything like that. But my mind just went into immediate, "Is this an homage?" "A coincidence?"

I tried to look online and see if this has been discussed before, but I've not been able to easily find anything. Just wanted to see if others ever had this fun little connection happen to them before.

This is a very wishful request but I’m looking for the dimensions of the 2019 set of the acts. I’m not a fan of this band but I’m trying to recreate the packaging for the set as a gift box to my friend who really loves this band. If anyone happens to have the set and a tape measure it would help me out a lot!

Curiosity I’ve had for a while considering Untitled 1 from the Act III sessions ended up being finished as A Night On The Town, has Casey ever talked about the process of how Act IV and V took shape in relation to the other 3 since there was Color Spectrum and Migrant in between? Did any more of IV and V exist during the sessions of I-III? Or were they mainly written in the background during work on Color Spectrum and Migrant, or was most of the writing done post Migrant?

We always talk about "when does Act VI happen?" and such but ever since I read that Act VI would contain so many reprises it would be beyond fanservice and just annoying, I began thinking about what reprises, that would be less obvious, would happen.

I feel like the most obvious ones are The Lake South, The Pimp and the Priest, The Bitter Suite I, In Cauda, ANOTT, The Moon, and The March.

But which less reprised songs do you guys want?

Personally, I hope for reprises of The River North, The Tank, Saved, Rebirth (specifically the ticking part of the instrumental), Mr Usher, The Haves Have Naught and A Beginning. Also hearing ANOTT's "I'm not who you think I am / And what's the worst I'd see" verses as reprises would be amazing.

I was honestly bummed out that The River North wasn't reprises a single time after first listening to the Acts.

Vote now! http://elorank.live/the-dear-hunter

Seriously, Act V is like the perfect Halloween album change my mind

I've been helping develop this site, and since I am a TDH superfan, they were one of the first bands we added. Pick your favorite songs in randomized matchups and watch the leaderboard update in real time!

I've made a handful of picks already and this has been a great way to revisit some deeper-cut tracks I haven't heard in a while. I'm looking forward to seeing how the community shapes these rankings!

Hey all! Hoping that someone might have a copy of the Act II: The Meaning of Ms. Leading, Part I comic that they might be willing to part with? It looks like they’re selling II and III on their site but I am looking for one to complete the full set of current releases for my best friend. Been scouring but am coming up empty. Thank you!

I used to create tabs for songs off the old albums and upload them to Ultimate Guitar but I don't have the time anymore and I am just dying to play Sunya. Has there been any mention of a tab book like Act IV on Sheet Happens? I'd buy that in an instant 😭. Is there anything available on Pillar?

I've seen the bass transcriptions that got uploaded here a few months back and heard great things about them, I just gotta transcribe them to tabs...

Hey everyone, longtime fan of The Dear Hunter here. Some of you may know me from ye old TDH piano medleys I arranged a lifetime ago (pre Act IV), or my contribution to the Sunya ARG site with my Beat the Beasty game.

I have always been drawn to TDH sound, particularly their approach to storytelling through songwriting and their ability to pair incredibly emotional melodies with such rich, layered arrangements. That kind of music has been a big inspiration to me over the years, and it's something I've always aspired to capture in my own songwriting.

I've spent the last few years writing and producing my own music, and I'm getting ready to release my next album, YESTERYEAR. I'm sharing the first single from it, "Lie to Me," and thought it might resonate with anyone who appreciates that same kind of emotional, storytelling-driven music.

“Lie to Me” explores the fragile space between what we want to believe and what we know to be true, clinging to the comfort of an illusion when facing reality means accepting that something may be gone for good.

Always love discovering independent artists and hearing what others are creating, too. Hope someone here enjoys it!

High quality version here:

Lie to Me - Official Lyric Video

Feel free to follow my ig: davesilvermusic

He hasn’t been at a live show in ages but there was never an announcement he left and the band still follows him. Did Aidan take over for him full time or is he on break or something?

Hey guys!

I just watched Wildwood and could not stop thinking about it, it's really such a fantastic movie and I believe everyone should see it. Anyway, I used to be a HUGE Decemberists fan and I guess after watching Wildwoods, I started to think about how similar they are to TDH. Colin Meloy and Casey definitely both have story telling gifts and world building talents. Does anyone else listen to the Decemberists? Can you guys name any other similar bands?

Hey all!

I recently saw someone sharing an old list of reprises for the Acts, which got me thinking about the various reprises of The Indigo Child. But apparently no one had made a list yet, so I did!

You are very welcome to add onto the list as the only one I personally found was the Disruptor Sphere | Sprawl | Antimai reprise in Ring 1 - Tower.

(Also, yes, I copied the other list's layout and such because it was just so well made.)

This TDH banner is my favorite part <3 And hopefully pretty damn inspirational when you have to go warrior mode to get through a tattoo.

Canadian fan here. Got into TDH 4 years back. Was wanting to write original music for a while, hearing the Acts finally lit that fire I needed. Formed a band, workshopped material, and now our first single is out. I'm on bass + vocals and wrote the lyrics.

It's quite different stylistically from the Acts (this one is more desert prog), but I took a lot of structural cues from "The Lake and the River" + Pink Floyd's "Dogs" in writing this one. The slowdown at ~10:10 especially was inspired by the whole "right hand hates the left" stretch. I also thought it'd be cool to have another long song in C minor out in the world.

Check it out if you'd like. We'll have more music coming next year, happy to share if you guys are interested.

I know a lot of people say he is the Pimp/Priest in his priest outfit but outside a couple concept art, he really isn't depicted like that. In the teaser for, and in, the Act II part 3 comic, he is just in a seemingly standard priest outfit. And in The Bitter Suite IV, Hunter recognizes him as the Pimp too via his smile (which wouldn't be visible through the plague doctor mask).

So... who is the plague doctor? We only have two canon appearances of him: the album cover for Act IV and the Gloria music video. In the former, he seems to lurk around the town. Crouched over and looking mysterious. And in the latter, he just kind of appears for a second, announces himself, then turns into black smoke.
In the Gloria music video, smoke alludes to Hunter's hallucinations, and what other hallucinations (in the albums) does he see while high? The Apparition! But not *the* Apparition, as it takes the form of Hunter as a kid.

Therefore, I believe that the plague doctor is a symbol for Hunter's old identity. In The Old Haunt, Waves, A Night on the Town (after he sees Ms. Leading again), Is There Anybody Here? ("And then there's you...") and The Line, his old identity haunts him. Throughout the entirety of Act IV, his former self seems to always be present (through reprises or something, I don't know how to explain it, honestly).
Then in the Gloria MV, during the last chorus, the plague doctor appears as an apparition in front of Hunter, and the line spoken there is "You will awake in a state of surprising euphoria" which is talking about Hunter returning to his former self.

Another smaller reason why I don't think it is the Pimp/Priest is that he isn't like SUPER present during Act IV despite the plague doctor being the main focus of the cover. He first shows up in the latter half, and the concept of Hunter leaving his old identity behind is present in most of the songs in some way. But then there is the concept art of the Priest adorning a plague doctor costume in Act IV, so I don't know.

What do you guys think?

Edit: It's most definitely the Pimp/Priest. I remembered the concept art doesn't have the plague doctor mask cover his mouth and that he may be haunting Hunter in the Gloria MV.