WATCH: Seahaven Takes You To The “Moon”
WATCH: Seahaven Takes You To The “Moon”
Their forthcoming album, Halo of Hurt, is due out November 20
Words by: Amanda Marano
Seahaven is back after a long six year hiatus with a new single and video, “Moon.” The California-based quartet revealed that they have signed to Pure Noise Records, and announced their long-awaited album, Halo of Hurt, out on November 20. The video starts off with the band performing in abasement in a black and white scene. The palate focuses on muted colors and figures in the shadows, giving it a dark and eerie vibe. “Moon” is a perfect track for the Halloween season, with dissonant guitars, augury bass, and sinister sound effects.
Halo of Hurt will be Seahaven’s first album in six years — a riveting new chapter in their continuous evolution. The completion will be astral, dark and moonlit, bringing back the magic that encapsulated Seahaven’s 2010s. A rock album at heart, Halo of Hurt pushes listeners to face and overcome their self-doubt and innermost demons. “In Halo of Hurt, there’s some underlying anxiety from coming up short after 2014,” lead vocalist Kyle Soto admits. “I wanted to bring it back to the beginning of the band — a revived version of our younger selves in my garage in 2009. No timelines, no pressure. No need to fit a certain mold.”
The new project follows 2011’s cathartic yet gritty debut LP Winter Forever and 2014’s nocturnal and intimate Reverie Lagoon: Music For Escapism Only. After they fell into a “dark period” as the band refers to it, with fear that they’d never be able to follow up with something jut as good.
“I don’t even know if I picked up a guitar for two and a half years,” shares Soto. “We didn’t know what direction we wanted to go in. We did a summer tour in 2016 and when it was over, we thought that was the end.”
Thankfully, in 2018 an invitation to open the 10-year anniversary tour of their pals Man Overboard pulled Seahaven out of their rut. “I was really feeling the nerves because it had been so long since we were out onstage in front of people,” Soto says. “I remember sitting with Cody in the green room and kind of tripping out. Then you hit the first chord and all of a sudden you’re back in your element.”
They began to make their way back on the scene, booking headlining hows full of familiar fans. Soon after, a chance encounter Pure Noise Records founder (and longtime Seahaven fan) Jake Round revealed he was interested in working together on a future project. “He gave us complete freedom to do whatever we wanted,” Soto says. “That’s pretty much all we needed.”
Seahaven completed the album right before the pandemic came in full force, and while they were eager to be back performing with fans the circumstances have since prevented that. “Our fans’ online presence has been a big reason for this whole process,” Soto says. “Fans being inquisitive, hoping and wishing: ‘Is there a new release? I thought you guys went and did a record in Costa Rica?’ They never fizzled out. We knew people still cared.”
