The EP, indirectly named for the patron saint of music, was recorded over two weekends at the Saint Cecilia Hotel in Austin, Texas. A celebration of the band’s past 20 years on the road, and the musical cherry on top of frontman Dave Grohl’s 8-part HBO series Sonic Highways, Saint Cecelia represents something particularly special for the band.
The five songs are well-crafted Foo Fighters fare, with perfectly distorted guitars, clean drum hooks, and vocals evenly layered over powerful choruses. But in light of the recent Paris attacks, which directly affected Grohl’s friends from the band Eagles of Death Metal, Jesse Hughes and, less directly, Josh Homme (who was absent from the attack during the EOD show at Le Bataclan), Grohl says the songs meant something different than they had before.
“This project has now taken on an entirely different tone. As has everything, it seems,” he wrote in a note accompanying the EP on the band’s website, “There is a new, hopeful intention that, even in the smallest way, perhaps these songs can bring a little light into this sometimes dark world. To remind us that music is life, and that hope and healing go hand in hand with song. That much can never be taken away.”
A preface to a much longer letter Grohl penned about the making of the band’s latest music, the frontman went on to promise the Foo Fighters’ return to Paris, saying, “To all who were affected by the atrocities in Paris, loved ones and friends, our hearts go out to you and your families. We will return and celebrate life and love with you once again someday with our music. As it should be done.”
Saint Cecelia is also available to stream on Apple Music and Spotify.
