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Reverberating walls of guitars, manic drumming, screeching vocals, and ponderous lyrics with obfuscated motives give a sense of Bay Area-bred Deafheaven’s typical touchstones. Beyond those descriptors, the band has expanded its repertoire of sounds and arrangements to provide a freshness that demonstrates growth without abandoning its roots.
The latest release, Lonely People with Power (2025), develops in strains similar to previous works while yielding unexpected moments. Tracks like “The Garden Route,” “Heathen,” “Amethyst,” and “Incidental II” emerge with a multiplicity that works subtlety into the layers of notes, pumping atmospherics, and occasional respites from the characteristic screaming of founding vocalist George Clarke—there are passages of soft singing and speaking. The impressive near-clamor from drummer Daniel Tracy continues in his self-created tradition of wailing away. But here, Tracy tamps his aggression with speedy and delicate flourishes to give Deafheaven a
musicality that arrives on new ground that is no less obvious, expected, or thematically clear.
Songs climax and dissipate into hazy near silences, chunking up from heavy metal riffing and springing away to pretty melodic arpeggios, sometimes making the quaint term of blackgaze (marrying black metal and shoegaze styles) even more on the nose. Deafhaven doesn’t stray from longer tracks, with most clocking in at over five minutes, and a few ticking seven or eight. The extended attention span never comes at the expense of being interesting. It’s a true feat in the realm of rock where the ponderous and the progressive can quickly become a monotonous pretension that grates nerves and causes people to feel like they just don’t get it. Not here.
Seemingly content to live in the now, the tour has been drawing heavily from Deafheaven’s most recent record, with nods to older successes like the title track from 2013’s Sunbather. It’s conceivable that to take in a set from Deafheaven is akin to attending an extended soundbath: immersive, moving, and a slightly out-of-body experience.
