Today marks a new era for Chicago grunge-pop ensemble Gentle Heat, who are announcing a new album titled Sheer, which will be their first with Flesh & Bone Records. Like the old era of the band, though, the lead single “Total Orbit” keeps them firmly within the same realm of lo-fi charm that groups like Ovlov and their Exploding in Sound labelmates have helped carry back into relevance from the flannel-clad ’90s alt-rock scene.
According to the band’s David Algrim, “Total Orbit” was among the first tracks written for the record, as well as one of “the most guitar-oriented, shoegaze-y tracks we have. I like that it’s a song that is constructed with the intent of being immediately pleasurable like a pop song but has parts that are both simple and slightly harder to define what their role is. The lyrics are about my love for being in a space that is quiet, secluded, and unswayed by what’s going on outside.”
Check out the track for yourself below, and expect Sheer out May 13—pre-order it here.
