How much can a photograph really tell us about the past?
I’ve always found old photos a little strange. Look at one long enough and you start filling in everything it can’t actually tell you.
Eigenface are interested in that gap too.
Eigenface are gearing up for the release of their debut album with ‘Slow Exposure’.
The band’s self-titled record is due October 2nd via Home Alone Records, and their second single has solidified the atmospheric world that the New Zealand/New York trio are building.
Eigenface also arrive at a good moment for Aotearoa indie, where artists like Phoebe Rings and Pearly* are pushing atmospheric, textural songwriting into increasingly interesting places.
The track feels careful and deliberate; it’s the type of thing you can listen to over and over again.
Its pacing does exactly what the lyrics tell you, almost like the song itself is moving through a slow exposure.
‘Slow Exposure’ is patient with its tension. It’s laid-back without losing my attention at any one point.
At the halfway point, vocalist Elliot Vaughan’s words begin to layer over one another, feeling almost hypnotic.
It’s just to gear you up, though, for the entrance of the guitar riff, which feels like a welcome switch-up in the song, like a moment of air before you fall back into the bouncy electronic heartbeat of the track.
The single deals with some clearly very considered thoughts on temporality and ephemerality.
That’s what makes the track stand out.
It feels like Vaughan, along with bandmates Penelope Esplin and Logan Valentine, really extends that curiosity and nostalgia to you as you take in what they’re saying.
“When you look at the photo of someone, they gaze back at you. But it’s lopsided – they are at once an instant and an eternity, and you’re just a dopey thing stumbling through linear earth time, but the photo is the concept of truth itself. So I put that on the bounciest riff I could write”, said Vaughan.
They’ve somehow stumbled upon a feeling you’ll absolutely relate to, even if you didn’t realise it before listening.
It’s honestly kind of mesmeric, and lots of fun.
By the end, ‘Slow Exposure’ doesn’t really answer how much a photograph can tell us about the past. If anything, it just makes you question it a little more.
Eigenface’s dealings with memory and the past is also extended in the music video for the track, which you can check out above.
The album will be arriving very soon, and luckily, the band are celebrating its release with a tour of New Zealand.
Check out those dates, here:
Eigenface Album Release Tour
Friday 2nd October – Space Academy, Christchurch
Saturday 3rd October – Pearl Diver, Dunedin
Friday 6th November – Vogelmorn, Wellington
Saturday 7th November – Porridge Watson, Whanganui
Thursday 12th November – Big Fan, Auckland
Friday 13th November – Last Place, Hamilton
Tickets on sale here.
