Eigenface Release Debut Self-Titled Album + Fourth Video Single
Following the release of House by the Sea, Slow Exposure, and Twizel, New Zealand / New York trio Eigenface return with their debut self-titled album, along with fourth single Grief is Fucking Strange.
Grief is Fucking Strange is about the enormity and impossibility of getting on with day-to-day tasks following the loss of a loved one. Vaughan sings of grief, pervasive and overwhelming, leading to irrational decisions, uncharacteristic behaviours, and outsized emotional reactions. He punches a wall, loses all sense of time, and lets the last train go, stranding himself at the station. Illustrated by the lonely, ever-descending chords and stumbling, panicked beat, with a cathartic ending, it’s a raw and unglamorous song that states its thesis plainly: grief is strange.
“I lost my mother quite quickly in 2020, my first time experiencing a grief like that. Grief Is Fucking Strange showed up a few years later, as I was just starting to gain some perspective on my own state of mourning. As there have been other deaths in my orbit since, I have found the song a useful mantra to extend a little grace to myself, and to others bereaved.”
The accompanying video follows Vaughan on a quotidian journey from the suburb to the city. He carries with him a metaphor for the unpredictable burden of grief – a black panel which changes sizes without warning or reason.
Eigenface are Penelope Esplin (French for Rabbits, Lake South, Grawlixes), Elliot Vaughan (CNZ/NZSM Composer in Residence 2024, Moth Quartet) and Logan Valentine (Moon Lander, The Tweeks).
Grief is Fucking Strange appears on the band’s self-titled debut album, out now on Home Alone Records. Born from an impromptu challenge to write and perform on each other’s work, the result became a cohesive set of songs and a debut album. Across its songs, the band explores memory, place, relationships and the tension between beauty and discomfort through expansive arrangements, electronic textures and intimate storytelling. Recorded and mixed by Vaughan, mastered by Harris Newman (Wolf Parade, Buck Meek, Godspeed You! Black Emperor), and featuring Vaughan’s lush string arrangements throughout, the album delivers post-pop, paired with bright melodies and subtle dissonance, layered harmonies and richly textured arrangements.
The band will celebrate the release of their debut album with a New Zealand tour.
Eigenface’s debut single, House by the Sea, reached #1 on RDU, #4 on Radio1 and #2 on the SRN Charts. Eigenface have appeared at Newtown Festival, The Performance Arcade and Day in the Bay, and shared the stage with Lake South, Julian Temple and The Broken Heartbreakers.
Eigenface Album Release Tour
Friday 2nd October @ Space Academy, Ōtautahi Christchurch
Saturday 3rd October @ Pearl Diver, Ōtepoti Dunedin
Friday 6th November @ Vogelmorn, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington
Saturday 7th November @ Porridge Watson, Whanganui
Thursday 12th November @ Big Fan, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Friday 13th November @ Last Place, Kirikiriroa Hamilton
Tickets on sale via undertheradar.co.nz
