When the morning’s cry is on my mind is running over time. Can you help me?
Should I stay just to stare right into the sun? You tell me.
The Horrors spin a cinematic reel of restless reverie with the black-and-white beauty of their latest single and video, “LA Runaway,” drawn from their evocatively atmospheric album, “Night Life” – easily some of the best work the band has produced in their already brilliant two decades of existence.
The Horrors are constantly expanding their palette of colours; from their initial Lord Sutch deathrock rattles to their gorgeous psychedelic endeavours, they heartily embrace a new direction. LA Runaway drifts deftly into territory charted by the ringing guitars of early U2 and the passion of Big Country and Chameleons; its lush layers, eerie atmospherics, and collegiate cool whisk listeners straight to 1987’s college radio airwaves. Faris Badwan delivers vocals radiant and resilient, surging through emotional turbulence with buoyancy that contrasts compellingly against the lyrics’ anxious undertow.
Director Neelam Khan Vela frames the band amidst kaleidoscopic, expressionist angles and urban wanderings, channeling the chiaroscuro charm of Anton Corbijn’s photographic chronicles. The whole video is awash in nostalgia and nuance, presented in grainy textures reminiscent of vintage Super 8 films unearthed from forgotten attic boxes. Footage flicks between kinetic onstage glimpses and stylish strolls through the backstreets of Los Angeles, enhancing the track’s themes of flight, isolation, and anxious pursuit of liberation. The video brims with sophistication, yet embraces DIY aesthetics…a striking synthesis that feels personal and potent.
LA Runaway is pure Horrors: stylized, surreal, and saturated with emotional tension; a shimmering snapshot from a band perpetually reinventing their visual vocabulary and musical voyage.
Watch below:
Listen to LA Runaway below:
Night Life is The Horrors’ first LP since 2017’s V and the 2021 EPs Lout and Against the Blade, marking the first time The Horrors step forward without their original lineup: absent are keyboardist Tom Furse and drummer Joe Spurgeon. In 2021, the Southend stalwarts announced their shift to a four-piece after Furse decided to step away, stating he’s “more of a maker than a performer,” leaving the rigors of touring behind.
Faris Badwan and Rhys Webb began crafting demos in Webb’s North London flat, the foundation of a record later shaped in Los Angeles with Yves Rothman, known for his work with Yves Tumor and Blondshell. Hayward’s guitar scrawled its final strokes back in London, with Kidd contributing from afar.
“The Night Life here is not the vim and vigour of pubs and clubs,” says the band. “It’s the thoughts that happen under the cover of darkness; the places your mind takes you when the rest of the world is asleep.”
The band’s sixth album showcases a refined roster: Faris Badwan’s brooding baritone still leads, with Rhys Webb’s bass rumbling beneath, while Joshua Hayward’s jagged guitar lines slice through. New blood comes from Amelia Kidd’s atmospheric keys and Jordan Cook, formerly of Telegram, on drums. Their sound, now sharper with experience, reflects both maturity and melancholy.
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