High Heavens offer melodic alt rock with psychedelic tinge

Five veteran musicians from Austin, Texas came together in 2017 to form High Heavens, and have now released their debut album Springtime Don’t Call.

Offering a slow, melodic blend of alt rock, the quintet give their songs their own identities and personalities from psychedelic to pop to southern gothic to post-punk.

The members come from five different outfits; I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness, Glorium, Ignorance Park, Edsel and New Wet Kojak and they released their first single for the LP in September 2019.

Working with esteemed producer Stuart Sikes (Modest Mouse, Loretta Lynn/Jack White, Cat Power, A Giant Dog, etc.) on their debut album, Springtime Don’t Call offers a full-spectrum of airy and layered songs, each with their own personality by singer and lyricist John Matthew Walker.

Highlights include ‘Streets,’ a wistful pastoral pop song; the moody ‘Bugle Serenade 1975,’ with its krautrock middle; the broken relationship funk of ‘The Frightener;’ and the downbeat, ghostly atmosphere of ‘Into the Daylight.’

The later, is the latest single High Heavens have released blending soft tinges of ‘60s psychedelia and country twang, with ghostly background vocals that support Walker’s evocative storytelling.

“Lyrically, the song is an exploration of being trapped in a personal hell. Addiction, depression, self-loathing – pick your poison,” says Walker. “The knowledge that salvation waits for you behind a thin membrane-be it a window, or a moment of self-discovery–even that divide will appear as a vast chasm.”

A music video for the track has also been released which was recorded during lockdown under a stormy Texas sky.