High Vis announce new album 'Blending,' share "Fever Dream"
UK punks High Vis turned a lot of heads with their recent single “Talk For Hours,” which we named one of the best punk songs of April, and now they’ve announced their new album, Blending, due September 9 via Dais Records (pre-order). The album opens with “Talk For Hours,” and it also includes new single “Fever Dream,” which is cut from the same cloth as the previous single, offering up Britpop/baggy revival with hardcore grit. If The Stone Roses and Oasis had been raised on Revolution Summer, it might’ve sounded a little something like this. Talking about the song and its Simon B. Wellington-directed video, guitarist Martin Macnamara says:
“Fever Dream” was written during the hottest days of summer and is about a kind of existential aimlessness that is at its best and worst during that time of the year – when it’s easy to feel more alive, but the longer, empty days can do bad things to overactive minds. Musically it walks a narrow line between that sense of hope and despair but emphasizes the former by nodding towards a baggy, swirling Northern sound.
The video for “Fever Dream” was shot over the course of three years and assembled as a kaleidoscopic document of the highs and lows of life as a band. Through intimate studio, tour and live footage we were aiming to capture the essence of a band bridging the gap between nostalgic reflection and a newly realized optimism. It’s the sound of summer in the capital; chaotic nights blending into aimless days.
Blending is High Vis’ second album, following 2019’s post-punkier No Sense No Feeling, but in a new Band To Watch interview for Stereogum, frontman Graham Sayle (previously of hardcore bands Tremors and Dirty Money) said he feels like Blending marks the first time that High Vis have truly found their voice. It followed Sayle going to therapy and drummer Edward “Ski” Harper training to become a therapist, and Sayle says, “Ski told me I should do this to try and process past traumas. For me, it was about forgiving myself. Because I’m a man, I used to feel a lot of shame for stuff that wasn’t my fault. People dying young, I never really dealt with that stuff. How you react to that comes out in the ways you end up coping with it.”
“I used to be angry and just directed it anywhere, whereas now I can understand and make sense of things, and realize when anger can be put to good use,” he added. “Before, I thought: ‘This is all I’ll ever feel. This is me.'”
Check out the new song and video below. High Vis also have upcoming UK shows, including Outbreak Fest, All Points East, and shows with Fiddlehead, Militarie Gun, The Chisel, and more. All are listed below.
Tracklist
1. Talk For Hours
2. 0151
3. Out Cold
4. Blending
5. Trauma Bonds
6. Fever Dream
7. Morality Test
8. Join Hands
9. Shame
High Vis — 2022 Tour Dates
Jun 25: Outbreak Fest at Bowlers Exhibition Centre – Manchester, UK
Jul 01: The George Tavern – London, UK
Jul 07: 2000 Trees Festival, UK
Aug 15: Underworld – London, UK !
Aug 19: – All Points East Festival
Nov 10: Underworld – London, UK #
! w/ Fiddlehead & Militarie Gun
# w/ The Chisel, Ironed Out, Nekra
