Blackwater Holylight – ‘Not Here Not Gone’

Blackwater Holylight embrace contrast on Not Here Not Gone

January 30, 2026

Blackwater Holylight, the LA via Portland, Oregon shoegaze ethereal doom project, returns with their fourth full-length album Not Here Not Gone, released January 30, 2026, via Suicide Squeeze Records. Recorded at Sonic Ranch outside of El Paso, Texas, with producer Sonny Diperri (Narrow Head, DIIV, Emma Ruth Rundle), the new album finds the band deepening their long-running exploration of light and dark, pairing menacing heaviness with moments of fragile beauty across a richly immersive sonic landscape.

Produced by: Sonny Diperri

As an album, Not Here Not Gone leans fully into contrast. Dense walls of shoegaze guitar, sludgy riffs, and thunderous drums form the foundation, while airy synths and siren-like vocals cut through the weight. The production emphasizes patience and space, allowing songs to unfold slowly rather than rush toward a cathartic conclusion. Lyrically and tonally, the album explores themes of uncertainty, relocation, empowerment, and vulnerability, reflecting the band’s transition from Portland to Los Angeles and the emotional dislocation that ensued.

Several tracks serve as focal points within the record’s shifting terrain. Lead single ‘Heavy, Why?’ stands as a defining moment, balancing Mikayla Mayhew’s low, dirge-like riff and Eliese Dorsay’s propulsive drumming against Sunny Faris’ fragile vocal delivery, transforming brute force into an open-ended emotional question. ‘Bodies’ leans into sludgy psychedelia, sculpting heaviness into something expansive rather than oppressive, while ‘Spades’ further reinforces the band’s ability to extract transcendence from distortion. Later in the album, ‘Fade’ and ‘Mourning After’ slow the pace, favoring layered textures and fever-dream melodies over immediate impact.

The band’s internal perspective on this duality is central to the album’s identity. Drummer Eliese Dorsay explains, “Some songs we’re the predator, and some songs we’re the prey.” That tension is echoed in the album’s title itself. As vocalist and guitarist/bassist Sunny Faris puts it, “It’s one foot in, one foot out. It’s about how you can lose people in your life but still have their presence and energy around you.” Elsewhere, Faris notes the band’s evolving creative approach: “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 breathe and develop while we were exploring a new place and new lives.”

Blackwater Holylight formed in Portland, Oregon, before relocating to Los Angeles three years ago, a move that stripped away familiarity and forced the band into a creative blank slate. Not Here Not Gone follows three previous full-length releases and marks the culmination of a slower, more deliberate writing process. The album was recorded in isolation at Sonic Ranch, a setting that allowed the band to focus entirely on sound, texture, and emotional depth. One notable stylistic shift arrives with the instrumental ‘Giraffe,’ which features a beat from David Andrew Sitek (TV on the Radio, Run the Jewels, Solange), expanding the band’s palette without abandoning their core identity.

Ultimately, Not Here Not Gone positions Blackwater Holylight at their most refined. It is an album that finds power in restraint, letting heaviness breathe and melody glow from within the shadows. Released January 30, 2026, via Suicide Squeeze Records, the album is available on limited edition deluxe LP, standard LP, CD, and all major streaming platforms.

Standout Songs: ‘Involuntary Haze,’ ‘Heavy, Why?’ ‘Spades,’ and ‘Fade.’

Release Date: January 30, 2026

6.5

We’ve covered Blackwater Holylight: ‘Involuntary Haze,’ ‘Heavy Why and ‘Wandering Lost.’

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