Category: Shoegaze

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Estonian Dream Pop/Shoegaze Act Pia Fraus Returns with New Material off First Album in Close to a Decade

Currently comprised of founding members Kärt Ojavee (synths), Rein Fuks (guitars, vocals) and Reijo Tagapere (bass), along with newest members Eve Komp (vocals, synths, metallophone) and Margus Voolpriit (drums), the Tallinn, Estonia-based shoegazer act Pia Fraus can trace their origins to when its founding members  Ojavee, Fuks, and Tagapere along with Tõnis Kenkmaa, Joosep Volk and Kristen Loide met while they were all attending art school. 

Starting as a sextet, the band spent 1998 writing material and by the following year, they began playing gigs in and around Tallinn. By 2001, the band had written and self-released their full-length debut Wonder What It’s Like and then sent demos to several different labels before catching the attention of American record label Clairecrords, who released their sophomore full-length effort In Solarium. And although in the following years, the band went through a series of lineup changes, they managed to be rather prolific — they released two EPs, 2003’s Plastilina and 2005’s self-released Mooie Island. Along with that the band’s sophomore effort In Solarium was released as an expanded edition in Japan through Vinyl-Junkie Recordings, who also released a compilation Sailing on a Grapefruit Lake, which featured two accompanying videos. The Estonian shoegazers followed up 2006’s self-released Nature Heart Software and 2008’s Norman Blake-produced, fourth album, After Summer. 

Adding to a growing profile, the members of Pia Fraus have opened for the likes of Ulrich Schnauss, Animal Collective,  Frida Hyvönen, Fleckfumie and Suburban Kids With Biblical Names and have had their work remixed by the likes of His Name Is Alive, Teenage Fanclub, Ulrich Schnauss, Hood, Airiel, Mahogany, Picnic, Wolfredt, Jatun, Bill Wills, Guther, Miwon, Fleckfumie, Mondil, Future Pilot Aka, Seeland, International Airport, 3Pead, Mirabilia, Galaktlan and Pastacas. Along with that they released a split 7 inch vinyl single with Ulrich Schnauss and as well as a remix compilation, Ten Remixes of Yenissey. 

The band had literally disappeared for close to a decade, before releasing a string of singles over the past year, from Field Ceremony, the Estonian shoegazers’ first full-length effort in almost a decade, slated for an October 13, 2017 release here in the States and an October 16, 2017 release in Europe, Japan and elsewhere. And as you’ll hear off album single “That’s Not All,” the Tallinn, Estonia-based act manage to maintain the dream pop sound that won international attention while expanding upon their sound — in this case, jangling guitars fed through pedal effects are paired with a rousingly anthemic hooks, swirling electronics and a use of plaintive boy-girl harmonies to create a dreamy song that possesses an underlying urgent swoon. 

Directed by the band’s Joosep Volk, the recently released visuals follows the band’s Eve Komp as she’s driving to a rehearsal/show/studio to play with the band, and from there, the video employs a relatively simple concept — the band performing the song but shot with hazy filters and gently blurred closeups. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Wolf Alice Releases a Gorgeous Shoegazer-like New Single

Currently comprised of founding members Ellie Roswell (vocals, guitar) and Jeff Oddie (guitar, vocals), along with Theo Ellis (bass) and Joel Amey (drums, vocals), the London-based indie rock quartet Wolf Alice derive their name from an Angela Carter short story, and can trace their origins to when its founding members Roswell and Oddie began the act in 2010 as an acoustic act. Eventually, Roswell and Oddie decided to add more electric elements to their sound and they recruited Roswell’s childhood friend Sadie Cleary (bass) and Oddie’s friend George Barlett (drums) to join the band. And with the original lineup, the quartet released a self-titled EP, which featured “Every Cloud,” “Wednesday,” and “Destroy Me,” with the band releasing a video for “Wednesday.”

When Barlett broke his wrist in 2012, Joel Amey joined on as a temporary replacement but later became a permanent member. Also in that year, Cleary left to focus on her studies, and Theo Ellis was recruited to join in. Despite the lineup changes, the band released “Leaving You,” on Soundcloud as a free download, and it received airplay on BBC Radio 1 was featured in NME’s Radar section. Building upon the buzz they received nationally, the quartet toured with Peace, and they began the following year with a session for Huw Stephens’ BBC Radio 1 show.

Since then the quartet have released two EP’s 2013’s Blush and 2014’s Creature Song and a full-length album — 2015’s critically applauded and commercially successful My Love Is Cool, which featured the Grammy Nominated-single “Moaning Lisa Smile,” a track that peaks at #9 on Billboard’s Alternative Songs Chart. The British indie rock quartet’s soon-to-be released sophomore effort Visions of a Life is slated for a September 29, 2017 release through Dirty Hit/RCA Records, and the album’s aptly soaring, latest single “Heavenward” reminds me quite a bit of A Storm in Heaven-era The Verve, as lush layers of shimmering guitar chords, four-on-the-floor drumming and Roswell’s yearning vocals are paired with an arena rock-like power chord-based hook. And while revealing some impressive guitar work, the song manages a rare feat — to be intimate and immediate and bombastic yet yearning as the band arches heavenward, even if just for a few moments.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Jamie Batten (vocals, guitar) Charlie Gardner (guitar, synth), David Sherry (bass) and Omri Covo (drums), the London, UK-based indie rock/shoegazer quartet Honey Lung have quickly exploded into national scene as they’ve received airplay and cosigns from BBC Radio 1′s Huw Stephens and Radio X‘s John Kennedy, and have played at The Great Escape, Reading and Leeds Festivals.  And when you hear the London-based quartet’s latest single “Stuttering Mind,” you’ll see why the up-and-coming band has built up such buzz around them: Honey Lung specializes in the sort of anthemic, power chord-based guitar pop that could have been released in 1993, complete with a soaring hook and some dexterous, psychedelic-tinged guitar work.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Over the course of this site’s seven year history, I’ve written quite a bit about Brooklyn-based shoegazers and JOVM mainstay act Dead Leaf Echo, and in that same period, the members of the band have built a growing national profile, as the’ve played at some of the country’s biggest and best known festivals, and have opened for a lengthening and impressive array of renowned bands, including The Wedding Present, A Place to Bury Strangers, . . . And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, The Psychedelic Furs, Chapterhouse, Ulrich Schnauss, Weekend, Lorelei, The Ocean Blue, The Warlocks, Beach Fossils, and The Telescopes. And along with that, over the past few years, the Brooklyn-based JOVM mainstays have also developed a reputation for being rather prolific — starting with 2013’s 4AD Records-inspired full-length debut effort Thought and Language, Dead Leaf Echo promptly followed that up with 2014’s true.deep.sleeper EP, 2015’s split EP with die you die and a limited cassette run of the “Lemonheart“/”sparks.fly.from.a.kiss” 7 inch, which retained their towering, wall of sound-inspired production, while nodding at RIDE, Swervedriver, The Verve and Slowdive and The Jesus and Mary Chain among others.  Released earlier this year, the band’s Strawberry Skin EP found the band continuing their ongoing collaboration with producer Monte Vallier, who has worked with Weekend and Wax Idols, as well as contributions from singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Jorge Elbrecht, who was a founding member of Violens and is currently in  No Joy and Ariel Pink’s backing band, and Guy Fixsen, who has worked with My Bloody Valentine and Wire, among a lengthy and impressive list of artists. And while further cementing their long-held reputation for crafting shimmering and anthemic shoegaze with a swooning and plaintive urgency,  the EP’s title track found the band gently expanding upon their sound, adding an abrasive and muscular quality underneath.

Recorded at Mexican Summer’s Greenpoint, Brooklyn-based studio with Guy Fixsen and Jorge Elbrecht, Dead Leaf Echo’s long-anticipated, sophomore full-length effort, Beyond.Desire is slated for an October 13, 2017 release through PaperCup Music, finds the band continuing to refine the sound that they’ve recently dubbed “noveeau wave”, a moody and shimmering mix of shoegaze and layered guitar pop, and as you’ll hear on Beyond.Desire‘s first, official single “Temple,” the single continues in a similar vein as its predecessor, as featured layers of shimmering power chords paired with a rousingly anthemic hook. But interestingly enough, much like their previously released material, the album is a something of a concept album, as the material reportedly is based on themes of maturation and growth beyond pure, animal lust and physical need; in fact “Temple” is an urgent and swooning declaration of love and devotion.

The band will be embarking on a number of tour dates to build up buzz to support the new album, and then to support it and int includes an October 13, 2017 stop at The Knitting Factory.

Tour Dates 
9.15: New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa
9.16: Hattiesburg, MI @ The Thirsty Hippo
10.7: Kingston, NY @ O Positive Festival
10.13: Brooklyn, NY @ Knitting Factory (record release party)
10.27: Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
11.2: Barnsville, OH @ Albert S George Youth Center
11.3: Chicago, IL @ Quenchers
11.4: Kalamazoo, MI @ Bell’s Brewery
11.5 Milwaukee, WI
11.7 Salt Lake City, UT @ Diabolical Records
11.8 San Fransisco, CA @ The Knockout
11.9: San Jose, CA @ TBA
11.10: San Diego, CA @ Whistle Stop
11.12: Los Angeles, CA @ Part Time Punks

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Dreamy Sounds and Visuals of Atlanta’s Parsons Rocket Project

Deriving their name from the American-born rocket propulsion engineer, chemist and occultist Jack Parsons, the Atlanta, GA-based quintet Parsons Rocket Project can trace their origins back to 2015 when Jody Hasty (drums and lyrics) began […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Earlier this summer, you may have come across a couple of posts featuring  Leeds, UK-based indie rock/psych rock trio The Boxing, and as you may recall, since their formation in 2014, the trio comprised of  Harrison Warke (vocals, guitar), Henry Chatham (bass) and Charlie Webb (drums) quickly asserted themselves as part of their hometown’s growing, contemporary indie rock and psych rock scenes; in fact, they’ve already drawn some comparisons to the likes of W.H. Lung, Eagulls and JOVM mainstays The Vryll Society.

Now, as you may recall “One by One” was a brooding track led by a sinuous bass line and steady drumming paired with a propulsive motorik groove, a soaring hook and  a whispered croon reminiscent of The Horrors’ Faris Badwan, and as the band’s Harrison Warke explained in press notes, “One by One,”  was an elaboration of the sound they developed across their first batch of singles; but perhaps just as important, “One by One” was the first single act the act recorded in a proper, professional studio. Of course, recording in a studio gave the members of the band the ability and freedom to experiment and flesh out the song’s arrangement in a way that they were unable to do before. “Heart of Me,” was released as the B-side (sort of) to “One by One” — and while continuing in a similar vein to its lead single, the track manages to be a slow-burning., moody and stormy bit of shoegaze with a creepy, existential dread at its core.

“Tame,” while being one of the trio’s shortest song to date — it clocks in at a little under 2 minutes and 40 sounds — will further cement their growing reputation nationally and across the blogosphere for crafting moody yet anthemic shoegaze, complete with shimmering, pedal effected guitar chords; however, as the band’s Warke explains “most of our songs are written in a darkroom without windows, but a hint of light managed to creep into this one. There’s a bit of sweet among the usual sour.” And what makes the song interesting is while nodding at a lighter, perhaps airier and arena rock-like fare, the song finds the band doing so while retaining soaring hooks and an enveloping feel.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

If you’ve been frequenting this site over the past two years, you’ve likely become familiar with the  Liverpool-based shoegaze quintet The Vryll Society, and as you may recall the quintet, comprised of Michael Ellis, Ryan Ellis, Lewis McGuinness, Lloyd Shearer, and Benjamin Robinson have received attention both on this site and across the blogosphere for a contemporary take on shoegaze that draws from a diverse and eclectic array of influences — including Funkadelic, Aphrodite’s Child ,krautrock, and others.

Earlier this year, I wrote about “Sacred Flight,” a single that further cemented their growing national and international profile for crafting an enveloping, pedal effected guitar-based sound with soaring hooks and a propulsive, motorik groove; however, the single revealed that the band had been experimenting and expanding upon their sound as there was an increasing emphasis on synths. Personally speaking, the song managed to remind me of my own travels this year — in particular, being in The Netherlands, and how being “a man from far away” was both liberating and profoundly strange. The band’s second single of the year, and second single off their highly-anticipated full-leghth debut, “Shadow Of A Wave” continuee along a similar vein, complete with their signature rousing hooks but with decidedly krautrock/motorik-like groove. And interestingly enough, the song may be the most achingly lovelorn and earnest song they’ve released to date.

 

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of founding trio Millie Duthie, Danny Southwell, Dan Hole who all met in 2015 while attending college. Quickly bonding over music, the trio formed the Brighton, UK-based band, Thyla. But with the addition of the band’s newest member, Mitch Duce, the newly constituted quartet found their sound. The quarter spent the better part of 2016 reimagining their sound and aesthetic, and then writing and recording new material, rooted around a distaste of the stale state of the British music industry — all while furthering Brighton’s growing reputation for producing some of England’s hottest, up-and-coming bands, including some you’ve likely come across on this site. Adding to a growing profile, the members of Thyla have played with the likes of Dream Wife, Luxury Death, Matt Maltese and Yonaka, and over the next few months, they will be opening for Husky Loops and Lazy Day.

“Pristine Dream,” the Brighton-based quartet’s latest single is a rousing and towering track that draws equally from early 90s Brit Pop, shoegaze and early 80s New Wave as the band pairs layers upon layers of shimmering, pedal effected guitars, thundering drumming and anthemic and arena rock-friendly hooks with Duthie’s ethereal and beguiling vocals; but while drawing from familiar and beloved sources, the up-and-coming quartet is an inspired, contemporary take on it.

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The 120 Minutes-Inspired Sounds and Visuals of The Luxembourg Signal’s “Laura Palmer”

With the release of their first single and their 2014 debut effort, the Los Angeles, CA-based indie rock act The Luxembourg Signal — initially comprised of founding members Beth Arzy (vocals), Betsy Moyer (vocals), Johnny Joyner (guitar) Brian Espinoza (drums) and Ginny Pitchford (keyboards) — quickly received attention from dream pop, indie pop and shoegazer aficionados, as well enthusiastic reviews for lush soundscapes paired with pop sensibilities and ethereal vocals. Over the past couple of years, the band expanded to a septet with the addition of Kelly Davis (guitar) and Daniel Kumiega (bass), and as a septet they released a split 7 inch single with Soft Science which featured a Robert Hampton (of Loop and Main fame) remix of “Dying Star.” 

Last year, the newly constituted septet went to the studio to complete their sophomore effort, Blue Field, which Shelflife and Kleine Untergrund Schallplatten will release this fall, and the album finds the band continuing their ongoing collaboration with engineer Mark Rains, who worked with them on their first album — and reportedly the material on the album finds the band with a bolder, more developed sound with a darker undertone. Along with that, the band collaborates with The Field Mice’s and Trembling Blue Stars’ Bobby Wratten on “Fall Feeling.” However, the album’s first single “Laura Palmer” sounds as though it owes a debt to the classic and beloved 4AD Records sound of the 80s as the arrangement features layers of shimmering guitar chords paired with four-on-the-floor drumming, a soaring hook, and ethereal and wistful vocals. 

The recently released visuals for “Laura Palmer” begin with a David Lynch-vibe as the viewer sees dust being blown in gorgeous patterns before turning into a lonely, late night stretch of blacktop while the rest of the video manages to be reminiscent of 120 Minutes-era MTV but with a lysergic vibe. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Last month, I had written about the Leeds, UK-based indie rock/psych rock trio The Boxing, and as you may recall, since their formation in 2014, the trio comprised of  Harrison Warke (vocals, guitar), Henry Chatham (bass) and Charlie Webb (drums) quickly asserted themselves as part of their hometown’s growing, contemporary indie rock and psych rock scenes; in fact, they’ve already drawn some comparisons to the likes of W.H. Lung, Eagulls and JOVM mainstays The Vryll Society.

 

“One by One,” which I wrote about last month, was a brooding track featuring swirling and shimmering guitar chords and a propulsive, motoric groove, led by a sinuous bass line and steady drumming paired with a soaring hook and a whispered croon reminiscent of The Horrors’ Faris Badwan, complete with a studio sheen. And as the band’s Harrison Warke explained in press notes “One by One” was an elaboration of the sound they developed across their first batch of singles, as it was the first single they recorded in a proper, professional studio. Naturally, the studio recording process  gave the members of the band the freedom and ability to experiment and flesh out the overall arrangement in a way that they were unable to do before.

“Heart of Me,” is essentially the B-side track to “One by One” and while continuing in a similar vein as its lead single, complete with shimmering guitar chords, the track manages to be a foil to its lead single while being able to stand on its own. And while nodding at slow-burning, moody and stormy shoegaze, the track possesses a creepy, existential dread as its core.

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays The Veldt Return with Hallucinogenic Sounds and Visuals for “One Day Out of Life”

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the course of the past 12-18 months or so, you’ve likely come across a handful of posts featuring the pioneering, Raleigh, NC/NYC-based sheogazer rock quintet The Veldt. Currently comprised of founding members, primary songwriters and identical twin brothers Daniel Chavis (vocals, guitar) and Danny Chavis (guitar) and Martin Levi (drums), along with along with Hayato Nakao (bass) and Frank Olsen (guitar), the band can trace their origins back to the Chapel Hill, NC music scene of the late 80s and early 90s — a scene that included Superchunk, arguably the most commercially successful and best known of the acts from that region, Polvo, Dillon Fence, and others.

With the band’s initial lineup featuring the Chavis Brothers and Levi, along with Joseph “Hue” Boyle (bass) and later David Burris, the members of The Veldt managed to be a rarity as a shoegazer rock band that prominently featured black men in a place and time, in which it was considered rather unusual, if not extremely uncommon — and they hailed from the South. Interestingly enough, the band quickly attained “must-see” status and with the 1992 release of their full-length debut Marigolds, the band saw a rapidly expanding national profile as the members of the band were profiled by MTV as a buzz-worthy act. And as a result, the then-Chapel Hill-based band earned a much more lucrative recording contact with Polygram Records, who in 1994 released their highly-acclaimed Ray Shulman produced sophomore effort Aphrodisiac. Thanks in part to being on a major label and to a pioneering sound that meshed elements of old-school soul, shoegaze, Brit Pop and early 90s alt rock, the band found themselves on the verge of international and commercial success opening for the likes of The Jesus and Mary Chain, Lush, Oasis, Cocteau Twins, Pixies, Fishbone, Corrosion of Conformity and others; however, the members of the shoegazer quintet experienced embittering difficulties and infighting with both their label and their management, who repeatedly told the band that they found them “too difficult to market.” And as a result, the band was dropped from Polygram and subsequently from two other labels.

While going through a series of lineup changes, the band released two albums, Universe Boat and Love At First Hate before officially going on a lengthy hiatus in 1998. Now, here’s where things get rather interesting: Several years later, the Chavis Brothers had resurfaced in New York with a new project Apollo Heights, which began to receive attention locally for a sound that effortlessly meshed soul, trip-hop and electronica with shoegazer rock — and for their Robin Guthrie (of Cocteau Twins)-produced debut effort, White Music for Black People, which featured the band collaborating with Guthrie, Mos Def, Deee- Lite‘s Lady Kier, TV on the Radio‘s Dave Sitek, and Mike Ladd. And although the members of The Veldt have toiled in varying amounts of relative obscurity over the past 20+ years, the Chavis Brothers’ and their bandmates’ work has managed to quietly reverberate, becoming much more influential than what its creators could have ever imagined as members of internationally renowned acts Bloc Party and TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek have publicly claimed the band as influencing their own genre defying sound and aesthetic.

Last year may have been arguably one of the bigger years of the band’s history as the members of the recently reformed band released several singles off the first batch of new original material in almost 20 years, The Shocking Fuzz of Your Electric Fur: The Drake Equation Mixtape — in particular the swooning “Sanctified” and the sultry and moody “In A Quiet Room” which revealed a subtle yet noticeable meshing of the early shoegazer sound of The Veldt with the trip-hop and electronic-leaning sound of Apollo Heights. Building upon the buzz of those singles, the members of The Veldt went on several tours, including one in which they opened for The Brian Jonestown Massacre and others — and much like the resurgence of Detroit-based proto-punkers Death, the Chavis Brothers and company firmly reasserted their place within both Black musical history and within musical history in general, making a vital connection between The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Cocteau Twins, The Verve, Fishbone, Marvin Gaye, Prince and TV on the Radio among others.

The Raleigh and New York-based band began 2017 with the “Symmetry”/”Slow Grind” 7 inch vinyl single, which North Carolina-based indie retail store and label Schoolkids Records will be releasing exclusively for Record Store Day. “Symmetry” was a slow-burning Quiet Storm soul meets shimmering and moody shoegaze single in which Daniel Chavis’ ethereal crooning placidly floats over a stormy mix of swirling electronics, stuttering beats, a propulsive bass line and shimmering guitar chords — and throughout the song there’s a urgent and plaintive yearning that’s forcefully visceral. “Slow Grind” was a swaggering yet dreamy and slow-burning bit of shoegaze featuring staccato bursts of stuttering beats, deep low end, swirling electronics, shimmering guitar chords and distorted vocals to create a sound that evokes the sensation of being submerged in a viscous substance — or being enveloped by sound. Building on the growing attention they’ve received, the band released their third single of 2017 and The Drake Equation Mixtape’s third single “One Day Out of Life” continues in a similar vein as its a atmospheric, slow-burning and soulful bit of shoegaze in which live instrumentation — namely effect pedaled guitar is paired with shimmering undulating synths and swirling electronics over which Daniel Chavis’ plaintive falsetto float over. And much like their previously released material since their reformation, their sound seamlessly meshes Quiet Storm-era R&B sentiment with moody shoegaze.

Produced and directed by Neoilluionsist artist Niilarty De Osu is an equally hallucinogenic day in the life of a woman, as she walks through a subway corridor — based on its length, it could be a few stops, 14th and 7th Avenue? 4th Avenue and 9th Street, Brooklyn? 42nd Street? It’s a haunting and trippy visual compliment to the song.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site around the end of last year and during the first few months of this year, you may recall that I had written quite a bit about the Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter BETS. Initially, she came to attention last year with the release of her debut effort Days Hours Night to critical applause. And as the story goes, building upon the buzz of her debt, the Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and her producer/co-writer/collaborator were set to write and record her sophomore album of original material, when the duo discovered that they shared a mutual love of Violent Femmes 1983 self-titled breakout debut effort. Reportedly, within a few minutes, BETS and her producer decided to put the album of originals on hold to work on a Violent Femmes cover album, in which she and her backing band re-imagine and re-work the familiar and beloved material, turning anxious and angular pop-leaning folk into slow-burning and hazy shoegaze.

 

Just before setting out to finish writing and recording her much-anticipated sophomore album of originals, the Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter went into the studio to record one last Violent Femmes cover, a cover of “Sleepwalkin'” — this time further cementing her growing reputation for crafting hazy and moody shoegaze with slinky and coquettish seductiveness at its core.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Last month, I wrote about  the Leeds, UK-based shoegazer quintet Colour of Spring and their 120 Minutes-era MTV-like single “Echoes,” a single about “losing the innocence of youth..” The up-and-coming British band, which is comprised of Shane Hunter (vocals, guitar), Robin Deione (guitar), Tom Gregory (bass), Mark Rochman (drums) and Charlie Addison (keys) have receive praise from NME and The Line of Best Fit for a sound that has been compared favorably to Wild Nothing,  Beach Fossils and others. Continuing to build on the buzz they’ve been receiving both in their homeland and elsewhere — including this site — the band has released their latest single “Love,” a towering and swirling bit of classic-leaning shoegaze that while seemingly drawing from RIDE and A Storm in Heaven-era The Verve, manages to also nod at Finelines-era My Vitriol.

As the band’s Shane Hunter explains, “‘Love’ is about the initial prospect of being in love, where everything is confusing, awkward and exciting all at the same time. You’re learning someone else and they’re learning you, all of your idiosyncrasies that you daren’t share with anyone else. There’s so many prominent, strong emotions that it can get really overwhelming. You don’t want to to blow it being your usual stupid self!” And as a result, the song feels like the anxious self-talk of someone trying to psych themselves out and not try to fuck something up — but on a certain level, they’re human and they’ll inevitably find a way to fuck it all up and do it again, as we all do at some point.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Contemplative Visuals for Sleepy Sun’s “Seaquest”

Over the course of their decade together, the Bay Area-based psych rock band Sleepy Sun — comprised of Bret Constantino (vocals), Evan Reiss (guitar), Matt Holliman (guitar) and Brian Tice (drums) — have released five full-length albums that have established the band’s reputation for crafting material that sounds as though it owes an equal debt to 60s psych rock, classic rock, shoegaze and dream pop. And while their sound is warmly familiar, they’ve managed to put their unique spin on it.

Interestingly enough, with Private Tales, Sleepy Sun’s forthcoming album, the members of the band find themselves taking a much different approach than with their previously recorded albums, and as you’ll hear on the album’s first single “Seaquest,” the members of the Bay Area-based band have gone for a lush, more spacious — hell, much more patient approach with the song revealing nuanced layers and emotions upon repeated listens, while retaining the gorgeous guitar work and soaring hooks that have won them attention. However, whereas the band managed to sound cosmic, the new single evokes placidly (and somewhat aimlessly) sailing off into a gorgeous sunset, and the sensation of just quietly digging your surroundings and your place in the world. And in light of a world and sociopolitical climate that has gone absolutely mad, sometimes you need to take a moment to just exist.

Directed by Brandon Moore and shot on location on the Miguelito, sailing across the San Francisco Bay and in a private pool in Lafayette, CA, the video captures the members of the band, enjoying each other’s company and their own thoughts as their boat sails across the sun-dappled bay on a gloriously sunny day — and it may be one of most beautiful moments anyone could ever ask for. But towards the video’s conclusion, things take a gorgeous yet dark turn as the members of the band and their boat presumably become overtaken by the sea with waterlogged instruments being an eerie metaphor for nature and time’s inexorable march forward.