A new chapter in the While She Sleeps story is firmly underway. After introducing a subversive new twist on their sound with the single SELF HELL (also the title track to their new album, which follows on March 29), the band powered through shows across Australia and New Zealand surrounding their Good Things Festival appearances last weekend.
Now While She Sleeps bring the curtain down on 2023 and line up an even bigger 2024 as they share the new single DOWN, which features Alex Taylor of fellow Sheffield band Malevolence. The track is accompanied by an exceptional video, which the band made DIY-style as a labour of love project.
While DOWN is informed by the band’s desire to bring a whirlwind of fresh sonic influences to the fore, it nonetheless maintains the fierce aggression that typified the band’s roots. The track opens with an ominous blare of an MS-20 synth, before grinding heavyweight riffs, industrial-tinged beats and a soaring melodic hook heighten its intensity. Completed by a ferocious verse from Alex Taylor, DOWN is indicative of where While She Sleeps are going in 2024: a maximalist, anything-goes attitude powered by swagger and self-belief.
Guitarist Sean Long says, “‘Down’ has been a central pillar in the new album throughout the writing process of ‘Self Hell’. Loz was completely on fire, and it gave a reminiscent early Sleeps style to the track. The working title for this song was ‘Film-Riffs’ simply because it sounded like it could be in an action movie. And it will. That’s exactly what it is. A high-intensity new sound that you can’t not bang your head to. It was one of the first demos that we knew would be an integral part of the album, it houses all elements of the last 10+ years, yet we have also taken steps to excite ourselves in new areas and introduced new sounds to our advantage. The unmistakable MS20 has made its footprint on the new sound of Sleeps and gives the song an instant identity as soon as it starts.“
