Ahead of the July 22 release of their new record, The Silver Snake Unfolds, North Carolina noise rockers Wailin’ Storms are sharing their new track and music video, “In the Heart of the Sea.” Check it out, premiering right here at New Noise.
The new LP follows the band’s 2020 highly acclaimed, breakthrough album, Rattle. The Silver Snake Unfolds features eight new tracks, manifesting as a 40-minute journey of captivating vignettes, exploring addiction, hopelessness, and a storm of unending anxiety.
The hypnotic guitars are front and center, propped up by a collection of moody and psychedelic dreamscapes playing out in a binge-worthy, cinematic fashion. As a band hailing from the American South, Wailin’ Storms pull heavily on some of their regional influences, revealing ghost-story-like confessions diving into their own narrative of mysticism, folklore, and survival.
Lead vocalist and guitarist Justin Storms provides some background around the new track:
“’In The Heart of The Sea’ is a song that feels like something I used to draw and still do occasionally. The sea, whales, mortality, man versus nature, etc. But as a quick background, this song was inspired by a book by the same title that was based on the Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. This real life event inspired Melville to write Moby Dick but basically picks up where Melville left off. What do you do after the ship goes down? How do you survive when you’re lost at sea with no water or supplies? Would you resort to cannibalism to stay alive?
“In the song ‘In The Heart of The Sea,’ the main character has survived a whale attacking their ship and is stranded on a lifeboat in the middle of the sea but then that boat sinks eventually too and the main character imagines being with their lover and embracing them again while they’re drowning. They’re later found dead but clinging to coral reef by a diver.”
Bassist Steve Stanczyk adds:
“One creepy thing happened while we were recording ‘In The Heart Of The Sea’: at the end of the song, if you listen carefully, you’ll hear a broadcast from a religious radio show exactly as it happened in the studio, no editing, no moving audio around—That’s exactly how it went down after the last note was played. Obviously when you add in the subcontext of our lyrics and general disposition of our music, it added an ominous element to the session which we ultimately left in the song.”
The band also have a number of shows lined up this summer. Check out those dates here:
7/28 – Cobra Cabana, Richmond, VA
7/29 – Ortlieb’s, Philadelphia, PA
7/30 – The Broadway, Brooklyn, NY
7/31 – Holy Frijoles, Baltimore, MD
8/01 – Government Center, Pittsburgh, PA
8/02 – PJ’s Lager House, Detroit, MI
8/03 – Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL
8/04 – Black Circle Brewing, Indianapolis, IN
8/05 – Kaiju, Louisville, KY
8/06 – Drkmttr, Nashville, TN
8/07 – Fleetwoods, Asheville, NC
Preorder Wailin’ Storms’ new album here, and watch the video for “In the Heart of the Sea” below:
For more from Wailin’ Storms, find them on Facebook, Instagram, and their official website.
Photo courtesy of Andy Marino
