Brooklyn duo Water From Your Eyes herald their next album Everyone’s Crushed with an exciting new single and video, ‘Barley’.
Water From Your Eyes are Rachel Brown (they/them, also of Thanks for Coming) and Nate Amos (he/him, also of This Is Lorelei, My Idea ). Their music has always defied singular genre labels (except perhaps ‘experimental’), eschewing usual forms and structures in favour of what feels right or just fun to play. Lyrics ooze dark irony and their observations on the SNAFUs of modern life invite us to see the absurd humour in it all. New single ‘Barley’ turns up the dial on their signature oddness, holding up a mirror to the chaos in mainstream society. Synthetic microtones jostle with classic rock guitar riffs while Brown’s deadpan delivery counts “one, two, three, counter, you’re a cool thing, count mountains”. It all adds up to be one of the coolest, most satisfying new sounds of the year, so far.
The accompanying video, directed by Brown, is equal parts mesmeric and humorous. Here’s what they had to say:
“The lyrics suggest repeated futile attempts at attaining the unattainable and allude to Sting and Sonic Youth. The video mirrors these concepts in scope, texture, and variety – juxtaposing feelings of entrapment and late stage capitalism against the sense of freedom inherent to the vast American landscape.
Despite all this heady bullshit the song is, at its core, fun.”
‘Barley’ is out now, and Everyone’s Crushed will land on 26th May, via Matador Records. The band has recently been on tour in Europe with Interpol and returns to host a weekly live residency in New York throughout March, followed by a North American tour supporting Snail Mail in April and May.
