While She Sleeps have released a new single entitled To The Flowers, along with its accompanying music video.
The song is the third single to be released from the UK metalcore pack’s upcoming album, Self Hell, following the title track and Down, which featured Alex Taylor of Malevolence.
To The Flowers, which had the working title of “Radiohead”, is a mellow and downtempo offering from the Sheffield-based band, featuring synths and a sample of a speech by spiritual leader Jiddu Krishnamurti.
Guitarist and co-founder Sean Long comments: “This song means a lot to us. As much as we love a good breakdown and heavy riff, a lot of our passion lies within emotive musical pieces. This song has nearly brought us all to tears multiple times simply because it touches something in us that we hold very dear. A pain we all know and have felt down to our deepest core.”
He continues: “The essence of our personal pain expressed in music is what the band is all about. Talking about the things we know are difficult but necessary. The working title was called ‘Radiohead’ and that should help understand the feeling it gave us when writing it.
Long adds, “This contains the ‘double whammy’ that I stumbled across just before the song was finished,” referencing a clip of him playing with two whammy pedals simultaneously, which he published on Instagram last May. “It went insanely viral when I posted it online so I just had to get it in the song. People have been saying it’s one of the greatest lead guitar parts of all time, I’ll take it.”
While She Sleeps have also released the music video for To The Flowers: a tragic short film with themes of miscarriage, drug addiction and attempted suicide. The clip was directed by the band themselves, and viewer discretion is advised.
Of the video, vocalist Loz Taylor says: “To The Flowers is emotional, tragic and real-life. We intended to make a short film that encompasses the real emotions of relationships, grief, love, death and pain.
“Shot by the members of While She Sleeps, To The Flowers ebbs and flows through an entendre of tragedy. This was a huge project to undertake, and we have poured our creative energy into directing this piece. We had a wicked time working on the film. This will hit home.”
Self Hell will be out on March 29 via While She Sleeps’ own label, Sleeps Brothers, and the band have now revealed that the release will be followed by a brief tour of UK record stores. At each stop, they will do signings and a ‘stripped-back’ musical performance. Tickets will go on sale on Monday, February 19, at 10am local time.
While She Sleeps have already announced a North American tour and some festival shows for 2024. For the full list of dates, see below. Tickets are now available.
While She Sleeps UK record-store performances:
Apr 1: Nottingham Rough Trade
Apr 2: Manchester HMV
Apr 3: Birmingham HMV
Apr 4 (midday): London Rough Trade East
Apr 4 (7pm): Kingston St John’s Old Church
While She Sleeps 2024 tour dates:
Mar 28: Hamburg Impericon festival, Germany
Mar 30: Leipzig Impericon festival, Germany
May 2: Toronto Rebel, ON, Canada
May 3: Montreal MTELUS, QC, Canada
May 4: Montreal MTELUS, QC, Canada
May 6: Boston Citizens House Of Blues, MA
May 7: Brooklyn Paramount, NY
May 9: Philadelphia Franklin Music Hall, PA
May 11: Myrtle Beach House Of Blues, SC
May 14: Atlanta The Eastern, GA
May 15: Nashville Marathon Music Works, TN
May 17: Chicago Riviera Theatre, IL
May 18: Royal Oak Music Theatre, MI
June 8: Nuremberg Rock Im Park, Germany
June 15: Donington Download festival, UK
June 26–29: Oslo Tons Of Rock, Norway
