Just under a year ago, former Ganser member Nadia Garofalo announced their new musical endeavor Heavy Feelings, an international duo alongside Bristol-based musician Ben Shillabeer that would mine the same post-punk and no-wave influences Garofalo’s previous outfit specializes in. Their debut single “The Prize” was densely packed with ideas which the pair will expand upon with their self-titled debut EP, arriving March 1 via Hoofbeats.
The first taste of that release has arrived in the form of “Bootlickers,” a tensely building five-minute journey laced with buzzing synths and jagged guitars. “I tend to write from a place of introspection, [though] this song had me looking outward as well,” Garofalo shares of the recording. “Maybe it’s the urgency I felt in Ben’s songwriting, or the existential anxiety I feel, maybe both—either way, there’s just too much frustration in me to keep it out of my lyrics these days.”
Considering the proverbial pond separating the two musicians and the desolate expanse communicated through the post-punk instrumental, the Sam Wisternoff–directed video for the track sees shots of Garofalo singing intercut with footage of endless highways all in stark black and white. “Making a music video across time zones and countries is always a particular challenge,” Garofalo adds. “Sam nailed it though—he was able to capture the intensity and the vision even with some of the footage being shot remotely (thank you, Kirsten Miccoli!).”
Check out the results below, and pre-order the Heavy Feelings EP here.
