Today, Denver doomgaze unit BLEAKHEART releases their stunning debut full-length, Dream Griever.
A haunting eclipse of sorrow and desire, BLEAKHEART weaves their longing psychedelia into a crushing mass of melancholic wonder. Drawing influences from indie rock, shoegaze, psych rock, doom metal, and goth/darkwave, the collective manifests an emotionally lush atmosphere of rich guitars, haunting synths, and dynamic vocals.
BLEAKHEART was initially the solo project of JP Damron (Vermin Womb, In The Company Of Serpents) who soon recruited friend Kelly Schilling (Dreadnought) to contribute her voice to the venture. Following the release of their first demo, the dreamy-dreary duo was joined by Mark Chronister and Josh Kauffman to fully realize their distinct downtrodden, mournful resonance.
By juxtaposing somber, low-fi, guitar-driven soundscapes with shimmering, ethereal vocals and keys, Dream Griever seeks to reflect on the absurdity of the human condition. “The album explores the patterns of destruction and turmoil created within ourselves, and the time we lose within those fleeting cycles,” says Schilling. Through anger, deception, loss, and wanting, Dream Griever presents a vulnerable and beautiful atmosphere of introspection around the pitfalls of human experience. “The record goes to all of those places – the acknowledgement, the attempted escape, and the inevitable missteps into the depths of our own machinations.”
Dream Griever was produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Pete DeBoer (Blood Incantation, Dreadnought) at World Famous Studios in February/March 2020 and comes swathed in the art of Brian D’Agosta (Gostworks Art). In advance of the record’s official unveiling, the band is pleased to release first single “The Visitor” commenting of the stunning hymn, “‘The Visitor’ paints the atmosphere of our ephemeral reality and the anguish felt from repeating our past mistakes.”
BLEAKHEART’s Dream Griever will see release independently on CD, cassette, and digitally with Sailor Records handling the vinyl edition. For preorders, visit the band’s Bandcamp page at THIS LOCATION.
BLEAKHEART:
JP Damron – guitars
Mark Chronister – guitars
Josh Kauffman – drums
Kelly Schilling – vocals, keys
“The guitars are deep and dreamy, echoing as if from within a well, while the way that the keys interact with them reminds us of Earth, during their The Bees Mades Honey in the Lion’s Skull and Hibernaculum era. In general, BleakHeart have this dripping, lush vibe that Earth were going for during this time, later extrapolated into an explosive outro to the track. The guitars become even thicker as they usher the track to its timely death, releasing all of the pent up energy built during its more restrained opening.” — Heavy Blog Is Heavy on “The Visitor”
“It’s a dark, atmospheric set of shoegaze-tinged gothic doom, with heroic vocals and an emotional weight as heavy as its riffs…” – Treble
“BLEAKHEART have created a dark, hypnotic, glacial-paced blend of doom, post-rock, shoegaze, goth, folk, psychedelia, and more, and Kelly Schilling’s soaring voice keeps you hooked at every turn.” — BrooklynVegan
