Portland doom-meets-shoegaze outfit BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT have released their fourth album "Not Here Not Gone" via Suicide Squeeze Records, a record that pushes the band further into the hazy territory between crushing heaviness and ethereal beauty. Recorded at Sonic Ranch outside El Paso, Texas by producer Sonny DiPerri -- known for his work with MY BLOODY VALENTINE and PROTOMARTYR -- the album explores the duality of light and dark with a confidence that comes only from a band fully comfortable in its own artistic identity.
Menacing riffs provide the bedrock to beguiling melodies throughout the 10-track album, while dense walls of shoegaze guitars pair with lighter-than-air synths to create a sound that is simultaneously oppressive and transcendent. Heavy subject matter -- grief, dislocation, emotional limbo -- is delivered by siren-song vocals that float above the instrumentation like mist over a dark ocean. The production at Sonic Ranch, a remote studio complex in the Texas desert, lent the sessions an isolated intensity that bleeds through every track on the finished record.
The lead single "Heavy, Why?" previewed the album's atmospheric heaviness last November and quickly became one of the most-discussed tracks in underground doom circles. Its companion video, shot in the misty forests of the Pacific Northwest, perfectly captured the band's aesthetic: beauty laced with menace and melancholy. Follow-up single "Phantom Limb" revealed the album's more aggressive side, featuring some of the heaviest riffs in the band's entire catalog and a thunderous low-end that showcases their doom credentials.
BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT formed in Portland, Oregon in 2017 and have steadily built a devoted following through relentless touring and a willingness to evolve their sound with each release. Previous albums established their reputation as one of the most creative acts in the doom-adjacent underground, but "Not Here Not Gone" represents their most ambitious and cohesive work to date. The band will tour extensively in support of the new material through the spring, with dates across the West Coast and a run through the Midwest slated for April and May.