Hear the burgeoning experimental rock group’s ‘Plate 43 (Or Standing On The Toes Of Giants)’ now.
HAAL have returned with the release of a new single.
‘Plate 43 (Or Standing On The Toes Of Giants)’ marks the burgeoning UK experimental rock group’s first new music to materialise this year following on from the successes of their 2024 debut EP Back To Shilmarine and recent endorsements from Somerset music festival ArcTanGent and perennially influential Sonic Youth alumnus Thurston Moore. Further refining a captivating vision forged over the course of several years that masterfully coalesces stylistic hallmarks of math rock, post-hardcore and industrial music, the Bristol band note their new single to have been an intermittent work in progress since the time of their inception and is now presented in its final form bolstered by saxophone and violin contributions from local cohorts Evo Ethel and Otto Wild of Ex-Agent and Tom Connolly of Quade.
Singer-guitarist Alfie Hay explains of ‘Plate 43 (Or Standing On The Toes Of Giants)’,
“This song began way back in 2019 with a couple of chords when I first began writing music. I let my subconscious drift into an unwitting state with the intention of utilising a creative flow to try and create something that felt fresh and new and the words “Pressure on the Wall” spilled out of my mouth, which then became the mantra that permeates the entire breadth of the tune.
I believe this song could be an ode to creativity itself, an exploration into why humans do things ultimately inconsequential to fill the time, such as creating music or painting a picture or whatever. Trying to compel meaning into something can be a futile endeavour, when the meaning could’ve been the act of simply doing the thing (whatever that might be!) in of itself.”
Its foreboding repetitions and spellbinding use of tension recalling the sentiments of such 1990s institutions as June Of 44, Slint and The For Carnation, hear ‘Plate 43 (Or Standing On The Toes Of Giants)’ below.
Words by Sam Wilkinson.
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