When guitarist/vocalist Seth Coggeshall first read The Old Man and the Sea, the metaphor meant as a sense of adventure for the old man really stuck with him. That’s why when Coggeshall’s band was in the process of a name change, His Dream of Lions stuck.

While they originated as more of a high school hobby, the natural growth of lineup changes, genre bending and songwriting capabilities became a more serious matter. The growth has continued into their latest EP, Pseudo Star. The name of the EP grew on them as they were in the recording process, much like the main theme.

“In reading the lyrics and listening to the music, the music is really grand and it’s bombastic and it’s really intense sometimes but other times it’s intimate and subdued,” Coggeshall said. "In the same way, the lyrics swing back and forth between these sematic extremes where you have this stuff that’s really triumphant and victorious sounding and on the other hand you have stuff that sounds sort of self-deprecating. We wanted to have a title that would represent those two extremes.”

Pseudo Star was a reinvention of sound for the band, giving them the opportunity to approach these tracks in a different way. Between a rigorous vocal production to stepping outside of comfort zones to play different instruments to incorporating new sounds, the EP is ultimately bigger and better than anything they’ve done before.

“With this record, we really embraced our strongest qualities,” guitarist/vocalist Nick Jones said. “It really changed our sound and allowed us to explore different territories sonically that we really never have before. I think we finally went into the mindset of writing the song that we want to write instead of being who we think we are.”

Reinventing the wheel may not be a sound, per say, but it’s something that’s distinctly heard on Pseudo Star. Its tracks are meant to spread feelings of hopefulness and inspiration. His Dream of Lions is a challenge to themselves and a challenge to others to hold onto their sense of adventure just as the old man did.