Two years on from breakout 2023 album ‘Everyone’s Crushed’, NYC duo Water From Your Eyes are back, sharing details of a new album – ‘It’s a Beautiful Place’ (out 22nd August via Matador) – alongside beguiling new single ‘Life Signs’.
Having toured their last record the world over, and during that time expanded their live set-up from backing-track beats to frenzied drum-bashing furor – inviting kindred duo Fantasy of A Broken Heart into the fray – ‘Life Signs’ sounds like the work of wizened artists reshaped and redefined by life on the road. Their once experimental-pop leaning remains here in the track’s daring spirit, but here gives way wholeheartedly to the looser, more warm-blooded vernacular of indie-rock.
A constant horn-locking of two opposing forces, on the one side of ‘Life Signs’, there’s the brooding verses boiling with clashing chords and spidery math-rock riffs. And on the other, the sweeping prettiness of its choruses, its psychedelic joy and effortlessly melodic hooks, keeping you guessing, keeping you in awe. If such a distinction exists, (or if everyone even cares), Water From Your Eyes here sounds less like a ‘project’ and more like a ‘band’ – a living, breathing, sweating, motherfucking band.
A shout-out too must be given to the accompanying video. Directed by lead vocalist Rachel Brown, it’s a remarkable piece of filmmaking in its own right, as abundant in detailed riches as the music it interprets.
Photo by Adam Powell
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