Perth dreamers HYLA release their debut album, Osaka, at the end of this week, and as the band prepare for its landing, theMusic.com.au is stoked to premiere their glistening new track, Foreign Tower.
Drawing direct influence from the two-towered apartment block in Osaka where songwriter and vocalist Alex Hayes was living during the writing of this record, the song is a melancholy slow-burner, an unabashedly emotional and contemplative rumination on an attempt to keep a dwindling relationship together.
Lyrically, there are strokes of the sort of confessional lament so expertly wielded by, for example, Tim Kasher on Cursive's Domestica and, particularly, The Good Life's Album Of The Year, while sonically treading in much more ambient, atmospheric waters.
Anyone who has ever spent time in an unfamiliar city — or, indeed, struggled to keep a dying flame of any ilk alive — will be struck by the gorgeously crafted song's longing gaze and despite-it-all hopefulness.
Foreign Tower is the third single to be taken from Osaka, and continues to build anticipation for the full album's release this Friday, 15 September, through LXVI Records.
During his stay in Osaka, Hayes took several photographs to document his experience, a selection of which you can check out below. Pop on the track and take a walk through Osaka, before you sit down with Osaka at the end of the week.
HYLA have one show left on their current Fraction tour, this Saturday, 16 September, at Jack Rabbit Slim's in Perth. They'll be joined by Puck, Human Buoy and other guests.
See the band's Facebook page for more information.
