Tombstones in Their Eyes Releases New Album, Looking for a Light
Tombstones in Their Eyes has been developing their brand of meditative shoegaze since the mid-2010s. Starting as a collaborative songwriting project between childhood friends, John Treanor and James Cooper, in which they drew on their own experiences as youths in the Southern California punk scene, the duo has been releasing music, collaborating with several rotating band members since their 2015 debut, Sleep Forever. And today’s release, Looking for a Light further showcases the band’s nonstop growth with assistance from bassist Josh Drew, percussionist Stephen Striegel, guitarist Paul Boutin, and longtime collaborator and producer Paul Roessler, who provided keyboard and backing harmony.
Looking for a Light opens on “Quarantine Blues,” a hazy, sludgy meditation on the monotony of quarantine. Tombstones in their Eyes’ all-encompassing fuzz matches the burgeoning genre of “quarantine anthem,” expressing the mental smog of being homebound in 2020-21 with distorted guitar and foggy vocals.
The subsequent track, “Ship on the Sea,” brings the album in a more warm and thoughtful direction. The vocals cut through the haze of guitar, emphasizing the atmosphere of the lyric, “There’s no other ship on the sea,” as well as the feeling of being with the person who feels like the only one for you. The next track, “Hey,” then dives into this relationship with a chorus of repeated “Hey, I want you,” and a theme of all-encompassing desire.
The title track is a churning mass of guitars sandwiched between moments of clarity, as Treanor ponders the search for a “light to walk in darkness all alone.” Tombstones in their Eyes’ penchant for repetition is a successful mode of lyrical emphasis when combined with their atmosphere of reverberation and haze. Though vocals may at times become partially obscured, they are never lost entirely to the swell of sound, emphasizing the meditative or trance-like nature this album can take on while making clear the theme of a search for clarity. “I Can Hurt All the Time” benefits from this method as well, becoming increasingly pensive and folded in on itself through internal rhyme and repetition in lines like “I wish I could feel good, you know I would I could / I wish I could feel good, but something tells me I’m no good.”
“Wrong” is another highlight, which takes on a lighter, dreamier quality when juxtaposed with the peak of distortion that is the album’s previous track, “Seeing Eye.” The vocals are softer and more reminiscent, but even “Wrong” delivers shredding guitar and drums at its climax.
The final track, “Maze” opens with a boom, and carries the album to a close with a wall of sound. It returns to the theme of a search for clarity, creating an all-encompassing atmosphere fitting for the feeling of being trapped and unable to find your way. The ending tapers out to drums and a distant echo of vocals, leaving us wondering if this sought after light could finally be in reach.
If hazy, introspective shoegaze piques your interest, let Looking for a Light guide you, and stream it everywhere starting today.
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