Blackwater Holylight

Based out of Portland, Blackwater Holylight plays a style that I like to call doomgaze. The quartet utilizes a combination of stoner doom, post punk, and even dream pop with the rhythm section often setting up a hypnotic foundation, the guitars and keyboards filling out the atmosphere, and the vocals providing a wafting dreamy presence. The resulting atmospherics evoke more feelings of relaxation and comfort, providing feminine energy that is a welcome relief from the usual crushing onslaughts that one expects from the genre.

While the group’s 2018 self-titled debut does well in establishing these tropes, a less fuzzed out approach compared to their subsequent albums makes for a more distinct flavor. The production is cleaner and allows for more coherent instrumentation as the guitars alternate between a post punk jangle and seventies rock-inspired bursts of heaviness while the bass and drums generally keep to steady builds. The vocal lines tend to be sparse, but their presence is pleasant without getting too lost in the mix.

The songwriting also offers some solid variety with tracks playing into different aspects of the band’s sound. Songs like “Slow Hole” and the suggestively titled “Jizz Witch” make for the most overt exercises in doom, descending into ominously building guitars and crawling rhythms overseen by distant vocals and occasionally manic synths. Meanwhile tracks like “Babies” and “Carry Her” focus more on their post punk elements with their upbeat pacing and straightforward guitar work. The songs toward the album’s end tend to be my most preferred but getting to them is a pleasant experience thanks to the bluesy “Willow.”

Overall, Blackwater Holylight’s debut makes for a strong first impression. While subsequent albums would see this doomgaze style finetuned with even greater helpings of shoegaze influences, this album has a unique sound and benefits from tight songwriting. 2021’s Silence/Motion might be the most definitive Blackwater Holylight experience at this time of writing, but it’s easy to imagine fans of groups like Ruby the Hatchet and Alms gravitating to this release the most. Anybody looking for a more subdued take on heavy psych can’t go wrong with any of their releases as far as I’m concerned.