There comes a season when the bloom bruises, when the softest touch scalds and the sweetest breath stifles. In that hour, a person may look toward the hush beyond the hedge—the untended field, the cool, curtained room, the undemanding sky. There, no pulse quickens for another’s whim, no gaze begs to be met, no silence waits to be filled. There, a soul might unfasten itself from ache and echo, and settle like dust in golden light: unsummoned, unmeasured, unwound. Not absence, no, but a sort of fullness that asks nothing, a stillness one walks into barefoot, alone, and entirely unbroken.
Alone, the latest offering from Providence’s Lookers, feels like Sunday sunlight through gauze curtains: soft, slow, and strangely sacred. It drapes itself across the ache and achelessness of solitude, lilting somewhere between yesterday’s soft-spoken singer-songwriters and tomorrow’s twilight pop. Think Weyes Blood bathing in broken disco balls, or Tennis tracing faded love letters in seafoam ink, or Beck lost in a linen-draped lounge, humming through dust motes and memory. There’s something sly in its stillness, a hush that hums. No push, no pull…just pause. It suggests that stepping away, sitting still, letting go might be sweeter than the noise.
“When the emotional toll of love is too high, one considers lush solitude,” says the band. “A poem about the feedback loop of each lover’s effect on the other and the next. A slow burn of fates and watery time.”
The accompanying visualizer shows a simple, straightforward performance – but shaken and distorted to a point of madness; a strange juxtaposition to the steady, fluid beat.
Watch the video for “Alone” below:
Lookers live in the low-lit thrum between pleasure and petulance: part post-punk, part disco delirium, kissed by noise, tangled in pop. It’s angsty, alluring, and already halfway out the door. Born from the backroom spark of poet Muggs Fogarty and Rafay Rashid (Ravi Shavi), the band took shape with Providence stalwarts: bassist and violinist Florence Wallis (The Low Anthem), guitarist Nick Politelli, and drummer Bryan Fielding of Thug Honey.
Deeper, arriving soon via Brooklyn’s Almost Ready Records, isn’t built for comfort. It breathes heavy, bites back, and disappears before dawn, leaving the room wrecked and you wondering where your heart went. Recorded by Bradford Krieger at Big Nice Studio, Deeper dives into the wild waltz of want: the hunger, the hush, the hot-blooded havoc. Songs simmer from Muggs’ word-wounds and Rafay’s sharp, swaggered instincts. Each track sways between tease and tantrum, plea and punch.
Lookers spoke with Post-Punk.com about their songwriting approach, the evolution of the band:
There’s a noticeable contrast between “Alone” and your lead single “Bury You Under,” which has a much more aggressive and vengeful energy. How do these songs reflect the diversity in the album’s sound and tone?
We chose these singles, in part, to showcase the breadth of our capacities, but they do serve as the extremes of what we sonically move between—considerations of clean, tight control with erratic releases. Big waves of energy and a little tenderness.
In terms of songwriting, how does the collaboration within the band work? Do you approach the music and lyrics in a complementary way, or do you approach it separately?
We don’t have a formula. Some of these songs started as poems, some as a bass line or wordless vocal melody. A few on this record were demo’d by one member, then brought to the group and hewn together. ‘Alone’ was written over several years, the lyrics of the last verse being written in the studio on the day of the recording. Florence Wallis, our bassist, wrote “Animal” after being prompted to write a song after Sinead O’Connor’s “I Want Your (Hands on Me)”, one of Muggs Fogarty’s favorite songs. Each song had its own way of being born. We try to take each spark as far as it can go, or as “deep” as it can go 😉
As a band that’s been working together for a while, what has changed for Lookers between the time you started and now, leading up to the release of Deeper?
Time has melted us together. Every member has been able to crystalize their special qualities and influences to offer it to the forge. This record feels like a tapestry of us and our ancient and strange friendships.§
“Alone” is out now. Deeper is set for release on April 25th via Almost Ready Records.
Follow Lookers:
Or via: