{"id":40528,"date":"2024-05-23T12:15:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T16:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cultureaddicts.com\/?p=40528"},"modified":"2024-05-11T08:44:36","modified_gmt":"2024-05-11T12:44:36","slug":"haal-release-debut-ep-back-to-shilmarine-share-new-video-for-to-be-a-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cultureaddicts.com\/?p=40528","title":{"rendered":"HAAL release debut EP \u2018Back To Shilmarine\u2019 + share new video for \u2018To Be A Machine\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Four-piece Bristol outfit HAAL have released their debut EP \u2018Back To Shilmarine\u2019 via Babka Records. The EP release comes on the heels of their recent singles Platform 1,\u00a018:19<\/em> and Vinculum<\/a>, as well as a short run of live dates across the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Combining elements of post-rock, trip-hop, and industrial music, HAAL have quickly become cult favourites in the UK live scene. Their psychotropic blend of samples, DIY pedals, and monolithic instrumentation, has seen the band play and tour alongside the likes of Butch Kassidy, Cowboyy, Deliluh, Treeboy & Arc, Ditz, Gurriers, and Pet Shimmers, as well as appearing festivals such as ArcTanGent, Dot to Dot, and Wanderlust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following their recent singles Janus<\/em> and Judy<\/em> (and subsequent remixes by Water From Your Eyes and Crimewave), the new EP \u2018Back To Shilmarine\u2019 arrives as a blistering snapshot of the band\u2019s protean dynamism. The band celebrate their late-90s \/ early-00s influences in a caustic yet melodic blend of tracks that nod as much to the output of labels such as Dischord, Touch & Go, and Nothing Records, as they do their contemporaries in the UK scene such as SCALER, Famous, deathcrash, and LICE. The EP sees them bring all these touchstones together to create a unique and uninhibited maelstrom of sound that spans everything from intricate math-inflected guitar lines and pensive vocals to propulsive drumming, totemic riffing, and warped synths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking on the new EP, frontman Alfie Hay, says: “this EP encapsulates the last 4 years of being a band and being creatively involved, with many of the ideas starting off in 2020 with around 4 years of development, experimenting with them by playing them live and seeing what still excited us. This is why we held off recording for so long, as we didn\u2019t want to commit to something we didn\u2019t fully believe in.

The longer we played together, the more important we realised that atmosphere and feeling was to the music, as well as having melody and hooks. Negative space can play as much a part in a song, as can filling it with pure noise and with this EP we sought to embody this idea in the most potent form we could, utilising both the heaviest noise with the most tender of space.

Much of the sound of the EP was dictated by our bassist Joe\u2019s handmade pedals. Rather than being sonically boxed in by the gear we\u2019d have to buy from shops, any of us can quite literally conceive of a sound that we want to hear and Joe can made it happen. Joe said the main influence for doing this was so that we didn\u2019t fall into the trap of sounding like anybody else and could synthesise a more unique sound and carve out our own unique sonic identity, rather than relying on other people to do so for us.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the run up to release, the band gave fans a first taste of the EP with what was arguably their heaviest song to date, \u201cPlatform 1,\u00a018:19\u201d, melding motorik rhythms and hypnotic riffs with sudden explosions of noise and power. This was then followed by Vinculum<\/em>, which showcased a more stripped back facet of the band\u2019s sound, cycling in an almost jam-like fashion, whilst the vocals twist and corrupt around glitchy guitar lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To mark the EP\u2019s release, the band have released a new video for To Be A Machine<\/em>. Watch it via YouTube below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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