HEAVY MANTLE – “SLEEP ESCAPE ARTIST”
A Spill Exclusive Music Premiere
“Heavyย Mantle plays punk rock… I guess. That sentence just doesnโt do them justice. Primarily influenced by punk and hardcore, these songs come together in a beautiful, swirling, indie rock/alternative display that gives serious nods to predecessors of the style such as Small Brown Bike, Cursive and even Jawbreaker. Sometimes poppy, sometimes frantic but always melodic; the band has found themselves straddling the line somewhere in between.ย Heavyย Mantleย seems to have unlocked the secret to taking those hooks & melodies found in the songwriting of their predecessors, and boiling them down into 90 second long bursts without losing the power or structure of the song itself.
Conceived in Baton Rouge by Secret Smokerโs Billy Thompson (guitar/vocals), after recruiting Brian Domingue (bass & backups) and Zach Smotherman (drums), the three quickly wrote a collection of four songs that landed on a demo back in 2015. Three years later and theyโve done about 10,000 miles of road, and are ready to unleash an LP that sounds equally fresh & original as it does familiar.”
Artist Quoteย
โThat one is bit more personal. If there is a song thatโs hard to talk about it is this song. I wonโt go into details of the dark place I was in when I wrote it. But I will say in general itโs about dealing with depression. I tried to make the hooks, melody and uplifting pace a contrast to the weight of the lyrics. Seems like a happy song but itโs really not. Thatโs the face of depression though isnโt it? We all smile and continue our lives and pretend things are okay in those darkest of moments. Eventually the darkness subsides.โ ~Billy Thompson (vocals/guitars)
Heavy Mantle
Weights & Measures
(Torjohnson Records)
Release Date: September 21, 2018
Weights & Measures Track Listing
1) Origin & Cause
2) Sleep Escape Artist
3 Four Walls Fallen
4) Eyes Wide Open
5) Unanswered Ways
6) Candles
7) Hungry Ghost
8) Untitled
9) Battle Scars
10) Filming Cops
11) Perfect Souvenir
12) Goth Brubecke