Blackwater Holylight – Veils of Winter
Release Date October 11, 2019
SECOND PRESS
Purple with Black and Red High Melt (Limited to 300)
FIRST PRESS
DIE HARD Mirror Card Cover with Clear Vinyl Limited to 100
Purple White Black Hand Pour Splatter (Limited to 75) SOLD OUT
Light Blue Opaque (limited to 300) SOLD OUT
Opaque Green Vinyl (limited to 300) SOLD OUT
Black Vinyl
CD
Stream Blackwater Holylight – “Veils of Winter”
Blackwater Holylight
Veils of Winter
Blackwater Holylight, as the name suggests, is all about contrasts. Itโs a fluid convergence of sound thatโs heavy, psychedelic, melodic, terrifying and beautiful all at once.
As a heavy band, their songs arenโt anchored to riffs, but rather riffs come and go in waves that surface throughout the bandโs meditative, entrancing songs. Itโs a hypnotic sound, with orchestral structures that often build tension and intrigue before turning the song on its head โ not by simply getting louder or heavier, nor by just layering elements. They expertly subvert the implied heaviness of a part, dissecting it and splaying the song’s guts out to seep across the sonic spectrum.
Now, having toured together extensively following the bandโs wildly-successful breakout self-titled debut in 2018, Blackwater Holylight has honed their sound and identity to a powerfully captivating beast. Their live set is all about the slow build, seeming to combine the melodic tension of early Sonic Youth crossed with the laconic fever-dream blues of the first Black Sabbath album, and wiry experimentation of post-punk and krautrock.
The lineup on this album is Allison (Sunny) Faris (bass/vocals), Laura Hopkins (guitar/vocals) and Sarah McKenna (synths), with new guitarist Mikayla Mayhew and drummer Eliese Dorsay fleshing out their sound in exciting waysย
โThe process of this album was vastly different from our first record,โ says Faris. โOne, because we recorded it over the course of a few weeks, whereas the first record was over the course of about a year. And two, this album was a true collaboration between the five of us. Each of us had extremely equal parts in writing and producing, we all bounced ideas off each together, and we all had a say in what was going on during every part of the process.โ
โOne of our favorite things about this album is that because it was so collaborative, we didn’t compartmentalize ourselves into one vibe.โ She continues. โItโs heavy, psychedelic, pop, shoegaze, doom, grunge, melodic and more.ย The whole process was extremely organic and natural for us, we were just being ourselves.โ
Veils of Winter opens with fuzzed-drenched, drop-tuned bass and baritone guitar leading a dirge riff on โSeeping Secrets.โ Farisโ lilting and funereal vocals drop in, adding to the mournful atmosphere until a short turnaround progression hints at changes to come, as Faris and Hopkins harmonize eerily and the tune suddenly turns into a krautrock charge. โMotorcycleโ kicks off deceptively with a heavy grunge riff building up for about 40-seconds before the song abruptly shifts gears into a synth-led post-punk harmony, sounding something like Lush meets Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd. โDeath Realmsโ is perhaps the poppiest track, based around soaring shoegaze guitars and interwoven light vocal harmonies. Soft piano notes, occasional woozy whammy bar dives and a driving tom-tom beat solidify its hooks. โSpidersโ is a creepy-crawly guitar riff and counterpoint keys, while โMoonlitโ explores prog-structures with a shredding guitar solo crescendo. The penultimate track, โLullabyโ is exactly that, a lulling, expansive tune exemplifying Blackwater Holylightโs genre smashing sound as it subtly moves across a vast sonic landscape atop a hypnotic 6/8 beat and repetitive 3-note motif. Throughout the album, their songs shirk traditional verse-chorus-verse structure in favor of fluid, serpentine compositions that move with commanding grace.
Veils of Winter will be available on LP, CD and download on October 11th, 2019 via RidingEasy Records.