Western Haunts share shoegaze pop stunner "The Bottle", announce LP

The Seattle shoegaze folk outfit Western Haunts have released their first new single since 2017, from new LP The Bottle out 3/3/23

Western Haunts have just released "The Bottle", their first new music since 2017’s full length album Problem Pop and the lead single off the forthcoming album of the same name. Partnering on this album with LA based producer Erik Blood (Shabazz Palaces, Tacocat, The Moondoggies), “The Bottle” draws its sound from the same fusion of 70s folk, 80s post punk and 90s shoegaze heard in the band’s previous catalog, newly injected with lead vocalist Jake Witt’s fluttering falsetto and epic drumming akin to more modern experimental pop artists like Perfume Genius. The song is steeped in melancholy but has instantly accessible ease to it as well, the production making their bummer pop go down smoothly.

With a KEXP-approved dream-pop sound (their live session for the station is excellent) that is a call to Midwestern revival – drenched in reverb and the haze of psychedelia and shoegaze – Listening to Seattle band Western Haunts is like stepping into a hazy, disorienting dream, characterized by layers of synths, reverb-heavy guitar and Jake Witt’s soaring tenor. Building on that already solid sound, this album partners the band partner with LA based producer and musician Erik Blood who co-produced the album and adds new depth and dimensions to their already formidable sound, invoking 80’s Goth and 90's Post-Punk influences and bringing it all into a modern pop context. There were elements of this sound emerging on 2017’s Problem Pop, but the help of Blood has allowed them to flesh these ideas out into something even more exciting.

"The Bottle" is the first taste of the album of the same name, out in full on March 3rd, 2023.