Blackwater Holylight dive headfirst into a cryptic new dawn on “Heavy, Why?”

Blackwater Holylight’s comeback arrives with a question rather than an answer. “Heavy, Why?” is the first look at their fourth album Not Here Not Gone (out January 30 via Suicide Squeeze Records), opening a new chapter for a band long defined by dichotomies and musical variation. This time, we see them lean into a liminal, heavy sound, honing in on a single, looping idea until it becomes an entrancing sensory experience.

“Heavy, Why?” marks their return following their April EP If You Only Knew, which featured an eerie, slow bloom cover of “All I Need”, the classic In Rainbows cut from Radiohead. It was a hint that the band were stretching toward an atmospheric palette, perhaps born from upheaval and sun-soaked relocation.

Formed in Portland in 2017 by Sunny Faris (vocals, guitar/bass), Blackwater Holylight expanded as Faris invited musicians she’d met across Portland’s underground: Mikayla Mayhew (guitar/bass), Eliese Dorsay (drums), and Sarah McKenna (synth). Their move to Los Angeles became a turning point. “It wasn’t a conscious decision to write riffs that feel like ‘this’ mood or ‘that’ mood,” Faris explains. “But being in a new place that was warm helped us write more lighthearted instrumentation. We were really moving quickly and we were experiencing the hustle and bustle of the city.” What emerged was a heavier sound from riffs compiled in Portland, combined with a shoegaze shimmer influenced by the present.

The track began with a drumbeat. Faris and Dorsay were messing around in their rehearsal space and a Bog Body-inspired snare pattern sparked the song. “It’s the first time the drums are the focal point instead of a vocal hook,” Faris says. “Lyrically, we wanted it to stay short and cryptic. Why is it so heavy to be disembodied from your highest self? Why is it sort of foggy and mind-numbing to be disconnected from the self?”

Recorded at Sonic Ranch with Sonny Diperri, “Heavy, Why?” embodies the tension Blackwater Holylight strives for. Dipperi's credits stretch from shoegaze and doom pioneers like My Bloody Valentine, DIIV, and Emma Ruth Rundle, to newer voices such as Glixen. He entered the band's orbit through Liam Neighbors (a.k.a A.L.N) of Mizmor, who produced their 2021 record Silence/Motion. “He said Liam loved working with us,” Faris recalls. “We like to keep things in the family so it felt right.” The band visited Sonic Ranch and immediately felt the pull. “It’s like an adult rock camp. We stayed on site and it allowed us to focus only on the record without the influence of everyday life. It’s a really captivating place.”

The accompanying video for “Heavy, Why?” takes the song’s mystique into high-fashion occultism. Directed by Lorenzo Cisi, a filmmaker whose portfolio spans Alexander McQueen and Givenchy, the clip was shot entirely overnight, from 6pm to 6am, roaming between LA’s beaches and marinas as the band endured freezing water and a ritualistic storyline. Bathed in red and black monochrome, the video evokes the fever-dream palette of Panos Cosmatos’ Mandy and the ceremonial staging of Robert Eggers.

“We wanted to let him do this thing. His vision is so trippy and washed-out. It matches the song’s energy perfectly, even if the video and lyrics weren’t written to match.” From symbolic gestures like cups tipping between mouths – that bring to mind the suit of cups in Tarot – to the band drifting through the night as lantern lit, ghostly figures, Blackwater Holylight tap into doom’s penchant for darker mythologies.

If “Heavy, Why?” is the doorway, Not Here Not Gone, is the shadowy room it leads into. “We talked about making a full doom record or a shoegaze record,” Faris explains. “But why limit ourselves? If being multi-dimensional has always worked for us, why change that now?” The result, she hints, spans sludgy psychedelia, washed-out shoegaze, slow-burn ballads, and moody heavy hitters.

The band will begin unveiling the album live in early 2026, debuting the collection at Roadburn in full and across their EU dates. “The album is a fully encompassed experience of all that we like to play and listen to,” Faris says. “Maybe in the future that will change and we’ll have something more focused. But for this record, instead of keeping ourselves in a box, we said ‘fuck it’ to being focused on a singular thing. Why would we change now when we’re capable of doing it all?”