The Dear Hunter (US prog rock band)

The Dear Hunter is an American progressive rock band originating in Providence, Rhode Island. It began as a side project of Casey Crescenzo when he was a member of the Receiving End of Sirens, before becoming his main band in 2006. The band's sound features a wide variety of instruments and styles. Most of the band's albums up to 2016, starting with their 2006 debut album Act I: The Lake South, the River North, are concept albums and a part of a common storyline. The most recent addition is 2016's Act V: Hymns with the Devil in Confessional, and the Acts are planned to conclude with a sixth installment. The band has also released albums without a common story; The Color Spectrum in 2011, Migrant in 2013, the EP All Is as All Should Be in 2017, Migrant Returned in 2023, and North American EP in 2025. The band is currently working on a new story line, referred to as The Indigo Child, including The Indigo Child EP in 2021, Antimai in 2022, and their latest studio album Sunya, released on March 20, 2026. The band began as a side project of Casey Crescenzo when he was a full-time member of the Receiving End of Sirens. The Dear Hunter was originally intended as a vehicle for music Crescenzo had written that did not fit with the sound of the Receiving End of Sirens. Crescenzo affirmed that: The idea was to take the creative overflow from the Receiving End of Sirens and bottle it up into something that I could keep with me. There was never a plan to take it on the road, or to release it. It was only when things with them went awry that I was given the opportunity to really make it into a traditional sort of thing. In the winter of 2005 Crescenzo recorded the Dear Ms. Leading demos. He created 10 copies on burned CDs that were circulated among his friends and posted online for download. While elements and characters featured on the demos would reappear on the subsequent Acts, Crescenzo has confirmed that there was a transformation in how he represented these themes and persons; while the story had its origins in his personal life, the Acts removed most autobiographical elements in favor of fiction: The reason I originally wrote it is obviously because I was bitter. The demos were almost all thematically interchangeable with one another. They are all kind of bitter and about a guy falling in love with a prostitute and stuff. When people call those demos an album, I just think it is a little ridiculous, because if I was to release that, I would be ashamed of myself. There is nothing to it – it's just one subject. I went through something with a girl, and like most immature artist people, you write about it and complain a lot...And that is why I didn't want anyone to hear those (songs from the demo)...I think I did what any writer does – they include themselves in their work to an extent as much as they can, since that is your only real link to humanity – what you experience. So if I am going to try to make anything realistic, all I have to go on is what I learned on my own...It is more that every character is a collection of experiences and feelings I have had about people in the past. In May 2006, Crescenzo was "asked to leave" the Receiving End of Sirens and began working on the Dear Hunter's first studio album. He expanded the scope of the project to a six-album story set at the dawn of the 20th century. The story revolved around the birth, life, and abrupt death of a boy known only as "the Dear Hunter". Crescenzo has remarked that the protagonist is "not a hero at all" and that he doesn't do "a single good thing or smart thing in any of the stories". As Crescenzo summarized, The story begins with the birth of the main character. The first act is really about the relationship of the mother and son, and what she has to go through to keep him alive and thriving. She decides to raise him removed from harsh realities, and tries to abandon her life as well- but her selflessness soon turns her back to old habits, and she ruins herself for him. For Crescenzo, the decision to begin the story at the beginning of the 20th century was consciously chosen due to the events that would unfold in future acts: I think the reason I wanted it to be set in that time because as the story goes on, things will coincide with world events where starting at that point is really important. The architecture of the time, the colors – all of that influences the songs, but at the same time, it is not supposed to be anything beyond fiction. It is supposed to be surreal – it is not like I am writing a concept album about some prostitute that I read a book about. In a 2007 interview, Crescenzo stated at that time that he had the overall story of the Dear Hunter mapped out. He produced and recorded the EP by himself with the assistance of his brother on drums and mother on backing vocals. Act I: The Lake South, The River North was released in September 2006 on Triple Crown Records. Shortly after the release of Act I, Crescenzo recruited Luke Dent of the recently split band Faraway for vocals and keyboards and Erick Serna as a second guitarist. Luke brought in his brother Sam on drums and Erick brought long-time friend Josh Rheault in to play bass. The band entered the studio in late 2006 to record the follow-up to Act I. Recording finished in early 2007, during which time, the band was featured in Alternative Press's "100 Bands You Need to Know in 2007." Act II: The Meaning of, and All Things Regarding Ms. Leading was released May 22, 2007. Originally, the band had written almost 2 hours of music for the album, but managed to trim the run time down to 80 minutes so as to fit on a single compact disc. Act II reached No. 39 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. The band supported the album by touring with As Tall As Lions, Saves the Day, Say Anything, Thrice, Chris Conley, The Format, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, Boys Night Out, Circa Survive, Ours, and Fear Before the March of Flames. The band filmed a music video for the song "The Church and the Dime". A book based on the story of Act II was released as part of the deluxe edition of Act III: Life and Death. Artist Kent St. John was selected to do the illustrations. Prior to a string of dates with Circa Survive, Josh Rheault and brothers Sam and Luke Dent left the band. Temporary replacements for the tour dates included Cliff Sarcona and Julio Tavarez of As Tall As Lions (drums and bass, respectively), Christopher Tagliaferro of Tiger Riot (bass), and Andy Wildrick of The Junior Varsity (guitar/keys). Wildrick later joined the band as a permanent member, along with Sagan Jacobson of Crown Atlantic on bass and Crescenzo's brother Nick on drums. The Dear Hunter embarked on their first headlining tour in mid-2008 with Lydia, Eye Alaska, and You, Me, and Everyone We Know. On December 9, 2008, it was announced that Nate Patterson, Crescenzo's former bandmate in The Receiving End of Sirens, would begin playing bass for the band, as Sagan Jacobson had left. After the headlining tour, the Dear Hunter entered the studio to record Act III: Life and Death. During this time, former bassist Josh Rheault announced on tour that he had rejoined the Dear Hunter on acoustic guitar, backing vocals, and keyboards. Act III was released on June 23, 2009 on Triple Crown Records. Between the release of Act II and Act III, Crescenzo was also conceiving a multi-album arc related to the color spectrum. On April 23, 2010, Crescenzo announced that the Dear Hunter would take a break from the Acts project to focus on this concept. He also stated that Act IV would most likely not be seen for quite some time. He later announced that the project, titled The Color Spectrum, would consist of nine EPs, each corresponding to a certain color (specifically, Black, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet and White). On February 24, 2011, Alternative Press announced the EPs would be released in multiple formats, including a physical CD containing select tracks from each of the