“Some of the most heartsick synth-pop since Cocteau Twins.” – Noisey
“Grandiose, all-encompassing shoegaze that stretches to the ends of the earth” – Stereogum
“Hazy, widescreen pop with emotive smoky vocals” – Brooklyn Vegan
“Slowdive just returned, but shoegaze music was already in good hands with Living Hour.” – NPR
Today, Winnipeg’s Living Hour are sharing the live video for the hazy, hypnotic track “Bottom Step”, the first single from their upcoming album, Softer Faces. For the live video “we tried to find the most beautiful and pleasing environment possible to fit the song – which brought us to Pointe Du Bois, Manitoba,” says vocalist Sam Sarty. “We waited all day for the perfect light and performed for a small crowd of friends and family. The water and views are serene and still.”
Due out March 1 via Kanine Records, Softer Faces follows up to their highly-praised 2016 S/T debut, featuring haunting, ethereal vocals accompanied by lush, expansive instrumentation.
Of the first single, NPR says “Bottom Step” “softly but assertively navigates the feeling of rejection, accented by delicate synth and brass.”
Living Hour has been expanding since their humble basement beginnings in 2015. Now a quintet, rounded out by Gil Carroll (guitar), Adam Soloway (guitar, vocals), Alex Chochinov (drums, trumpet, orangelle), and Brett Ticzon (bass, vocals), Living Hour’s emotive vocals, intricate harmonies, with dreamy washes of guitar, bass, keys, and horns sees the band pulling from many genres to create their own diverse vibe that’s intimate, honest, and vulnerable.
Softer Faces was produced by Kurt Feldman (The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Chairlift, DIIV, Dum Dum Girls) in Living Hour’s hometown and mixed by Jarvis Taveniere (Real Estate, Woods, Blouse, Widowspeak) at Thump Studios in Brooklyn.
Known for their mesmerizing and deeply-moving live show, Living Hour has toured Europe, the UK and North America. Their performance captures the dreamy, emotional power of the band’s recordings, creating a mesmerizing, unforgettable, cathartic, and deeply moving live music experience. Sarty finds that, “Sometimes people are a little turned off and not living in the now or being present. I find that when you perform, it’s one of the most present moments that you can be in. You’re living in the hour.”
TOUR DATES:
Jan 24 – Saskatoon, SK – Winterruption Festival @ Black Cat
Jan 25 – Calgary, AB – Big Winter Classic
Jan 26 – Rossland, BC – Blizzard Fest
Jan 29 – Edmonton, AB – Aviary
Jan 30 – Regina, SK – T&A Vinyl
Mar 7 – New York, NY – New Colossus Festival @ Pianos
Mar 9 – Savannah, GA – Savannah Stopover Festival
Mar 13-17 – Austin, TX – SXSW
