“Down With The Upward” almost didn’t happen. But Ryan Policky was fortunate enough to reconnect with Mark Gardener just long enough to hammer it out before the Ride vocalist/guitarist resumed touring.
“It had this uplifting feeling I could see morphing over the course of the composition, much like the hope of digging ourselves out of a complicated stretch of social divide,” says Policky of the track’s piano-based beginnings. “Mark was into the vibe of the track, and we set our sights on getting it done before he had to get back on the road.”
The otherworldly goth/shoegaze mashup is the first new music from A Shoreline Dream since 2024’s Whitelined LP. Policky and band cofounder Erik Jeffries are currently working on their eighth album with an eye on a 2026 release. “Down With The Upward” is the fourth ASD song co-written with Gardener.
“Mark’s lyrics hit me in such a way that this visual melding of the past, the future and the unknown places within ourselves instantly came to mind,” says Policky. “I wanted the video to have this feeling of being thrown into a situation where communication breaks down over many eras and many situations, both dreamlike and real. We used 8mm cameras, modern digital tech and phones to communicate the heartache of losing a close connection to modern-day stress—that feeling of both despair and optimism many of us have felt over the years.”
We’re proud to premiere A Shoreline Dream’s “Down With The Upward” video.
—Hobart Rowland
