Blackwater Holylight

Blackwater Holylight announce new album 'Not Here Not Gone' out Jan 30th via Suicide Squeeze Records & share new single "Heavy, Why?".

Blackwater Holylight have carved a heavy niche in the Los Angeles underground, following their dispatch from Portland, Oregon. This week, the hard rock trio announce the full-length Not Here Not Gone, out January 30, 2026 via Suicide Squeeze Records. The album is shaped by location change, refining a strain of heavy, ethereal doom and shoegaze.

Nowhere is this stronger than lead single "Heavy, Why?" Pondering the experience of being disembodied, moody riffs build to an electric climax. The fierce outcome is timeless and innovative.

On the track, singer Sunny Faris shares:

 "'Heavy, Why?' Is a lyrically light and instrumentally heavy arrangement that cryptically but intentionally speaks to the experience of being disembodied and poses the question, simply, of: 'Why? Why is it such a hard, lonely, agonizing and heavy experience to be turned away from Self.'"

When the women of Blackwater Holylight left their hometown of Portland OR three years ago, their mission was to escape the gloom of the Pacific Northwest and the placating comfort of familiarity. Aiming for the sunnier climes of LA, the band found themselves not only in a warmer environment, but in a blank slate landscape- one without jobs, longtime friend groups, and the easy retreat of old habits. And it was here, unencumbered by the contentment of security, that Blackwater Holylight began diligently working on their fourth full-length album, Not Here Not Gone.

As with their previous work, Not Here Not Gone explores the duality of light and dark- menacing riffs provide the bedrock to beguiling melodies; dense walls of shoegaze guitars pair with lighter-than-air synths; and heavy subject matter is delivered by siren song vocals. Across their work, the listener gets a sense of empowerment at one turn, vulnerability the next. As drummer Eliese Dorsay describes it, 

“some songs we’re the predator, and some songs we’re the prey.” 

The juxtaposition of confidence and uncertainty is never in as such stark relief as when one makes a life changing decision, which may explain how the band’s relocation intensified their study in contrasts to intoxicating new heights on Not Here Not Gone.

The title is the perfect description of the band’s adjustment. 

“It’s one foot in, one foot out,”

vocalist and guitarist/bassist Sunny Faris explains. 

“It’s about how you can lose people in your life but still have their presence and energy around you.” 

And indeed, listening to Not Here Not Gone, you get the distinct sense that Blackwater Holylight dragged some of the Northwest gloom down into Southern California. The opening chords of “How Will You Feel” are drenched in the muddy weight of perpetually overcast skies. But a Jacob’s Ladder of light shines through the scuzzy guitars in the form of Faris’ lilting vocals and Sarah McKenna’s blissed-out ambient synth work, guiding the listener out of the mire and into the garden.

Even in their heaviest moments, like the sludgy psychedelia of “Bodies” and “Spades,” Blackwater Holylight masterfully sculpt the thunder and grime into something that feels transcendental. Lead single “Heavy, Why?” is perhaps the apex of the band’s masterful duality and an appropriately titled examination of the ensemble’s methods. Mikayla Mayhew’s low, dirge-like riff and Dorsay’s propulsive drums could easily find a home in the catalog of an amp-worshipping Roadburn act, but Faris’ fragile vocals transform the composition into a question, a pointed and probing examination that uses beauty and grace to offset the threatening instrumentation.

In one of the biggest stylistic shifts of the album, the instrumental track “Giraffe” churns out a hallucinatory blend of woozy keyboards and pulsating bass over a beat provided by David Andrew Sitek (TV on the Radio, Run the Jewels, Solange).

The song serves as a dividing line of sorts, as Not Here Not Gone shifts gears into even more nuanced territories.

The band asserts that the primary change to their music has been the addition of time. On previous albums, youthful urgency yielded material that felt immediate and direct.

But on Not Here Not Gone, Blackwater Holylight deliberately slowed their creative pace. 

“If there were to be a theme to the album, it would be patience. Some of these songs we’ve been working on for three years, just giving the songs time to breath and develop while we were exploring a new place and new lives.” 

says Faris.

It’s especially evident on the latter half of the album, where tracks like “Void to Be,” “Fade,” and “Mourning After” deliberately eschew the big riff in favor of fever dream melodies and layered instrumentation. But forever savoring the paradox, the album’s final track was composed just days before the band entered the studio. “Poppyfields” is a harrowing account of a friend losing their home in an LA wildfire, set against a backdrop of blast beats, double kick drum, symphonic synths, and black metal-inspired guitars. In what feels like a counterweight to the album’s general tilt towards less tormented territories, “Poppyfields” serves as a stark reminder that no paradise is permanent, and everything will be reborn through ashes.

Not Here Not Gone was recorded at Sonic Ranch outside of El Paso TX by Sonny Diperri (Narrow Head, DIIV, Emma Ruth Rundle), allowing the band to once again step outside of their comfort zone and isolate themselves in a place where they could focus exclusively on their art. The result is the crown jewel of Blackwater Holylight’s catalog—a rich and immersive study in tonal chiaroscuro, where light finds its way out of the shadows. Suicide Squeeze Records is proud to release Blackwater Holylight’s Not Here Not Gone to the world on Limited Edition Deluxe LP, standard LP, and CD on January 30, 2026.

Picture by Magdalena Wosinska

Tour dates

13 Feb - San Diego, CA - Casbah

14 Feb - Phoenix, AZ - Last Exit 

15 Feb - Albuquerque, NM - Sister

17 Feb - Austin, TX - Radio/East

18 Feb - Houston, TX - White Oak

19 Feb - New Orleans, LA - No Dice

20 Feb - Pensacola, FL - Handlebar

21 Feb - Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn

22 Feb - Asheville, NC - Eulogy 

24 Feb - Charlottesville, VA - Southern Cafe

25 Feb - Baltimore, MD - Metro

26 Feb - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's

27 Feb - Brooklyn, NY - Meadows

28 Feb - Braintree, MA - Widowmaker Brewing

02 Mar - Youngstown, OH - Westside Bowl

03 Mar - Indianapolis, IN - Black Circle

04 Mar - Chicago, IL - Sleeping Village

06 Mar - Denver, CO - Hi-Dive

07 Mar - Denver, CO - Hi-Dive

08 Mar - Salt Lake City, UT - Aces High

10 Mar - Seattle, WA - Nuemos

11 Mar - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater

12 Mar - Sacremento, CA - Starlet

13 Mar - San Francisco, CA - The Chapel

14 Mar - Santa Cruz, CA - Moe's Alley

21 Mar - Los Angeles, CA - Pacific Electric 

18 Apr - NL Tilburg - Roadburn Fest

06 May - BE Brussels - Ancienne Belgique

07 May - DE Hamburdg - MS Stubnitz

08 May - DK Copenhagen - A Colossal Weekend fest

09 May - NO Oslo - Desertfest

10 May - SE Gothenburg - Monument 

12 May - PL Poznań - Pod Minoga 

13 May - DE Leipzig - UT Connewitz 

14 May - DE Berlin - Desterfest 

15 May - DE Nuenkirchen - Stummsche Reithalle

16 May - BE Brussel - Obsidian Dust fest

17 May - UK London - Desterfest 

18 May - UK Newcastle - The Cluny

19 May - UK Glasgow - Stereo

20 May - UK Manchester - The Deaf Institute 

22 May - FIN Helsinki - Sonic Rites fest