Still Blank arrived from a chance encounter in Liverpool’s basement music scene in 2022, and their self-titled debut album, out now via National Anthem / Capitol Records, is the fully realized version of everything that meeting promised. Hawaii-born singer and multi-instrumentalist Jordy and Manchester guitarist Ben recorded across London, Los Angeles, and a cabin in Wales with producer Joel Pott (George Ezra, Shura) and later Flood (PJ Harvey, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds), building ten tracks that move between shoegaze, psych-folk, and post-punk without settling into any single lane. New single “Dead and Gone,” born from late-night improvisation on analog synths with a fire going and whiskey in hand, is a wistful and sprawling reflection on a relationship’s end. Jordy pulled the lyrics from a poem written years earlier, and the vocals on the final recording came straight from the demo because nothing they tried afterward carried the same feeling. Listen here.
The album’s creation was anything but straightforward, taking in Jordy’s unexpected deportation mid-process, a transatlantic move to Los Angeles, and songs written before the duo even had a name. Jordy describes it simply: “The whole creation of this album felt serendipitous, from a chance meeting between ourselves to magically finding likeminded collaborators who took a chance on 2 kids and allowed us to experiment without any pressure.” Drawing comparisons to Yo La Tengo, Big Thief, and Cat Power, and earning early praise from Stereogum, CLASH, and DIY, Still Blank are one of the more genuinely compelling new acts in alternative music right now.
Still Blank Tracklisting:
- What About Jane
- Ain’t Quite Right
- Dead and Gone
- Get Over It
- Sundown Dialogue
- Same Sun
- Vacancy
- Denial
- Cut Slack
- Rainman