“In the simplest of terms, Amends is a record about forgiveness,” says Tom D’Agustino, one of the singers and primary songwriters of the Brooklyn-based band Active Bird Community. “Forgiving your parents for splitting up, forgiving your friends for not always understanding you, learning to forgive yourself.” The band’s forthcoming album, Amends, dwells in the intricacies of relationships -- broken bonds between friends, family, and lovers -- and hoping to heal.


Amends represents Active Bird Community’s efforts to contend honestly with the pain of their experiences and explore the empowering nature of forgiveness. “If you can’t forgive yourself, that robs you of your responsibility to be a force for good outside of your own immediate universe. When you take the step from blaming and wallowing, there is an opening for you to become a fuller person,” D’Agustino says. “In saying ‘it’s ok’ to your life, there’s so much power there. You can blame other people for how you feel or the choices you make, or you can take some responsibility for your feelings and your actions and try to make a change, and that first step is making amends.”