LABEL: Run For Cover Records
VINYL RELEASE DATE: 2/10/2023
ALBUM RELEASE DATE: 2023
VARIANT: Black Vinyl LP

Truly great pop songs do not require a cheery outlook in order towork, nor do they pander to expectations of syrupy sweet easy-listening. Rather, the best pop music is a matter of refinement andpure intention, of dialing groove to melody so that the two mightpuncture the malaise of everyday living in unison, revealing somebrief, sober truth about our shared human condition. On theirthird LP, Moments of Clarity (Run for Cover), Narrow Head haveachieved precisely this feat. Traversing the depths of massive,churning riffs, often distorted to the point of violence, bouncing, lock-grooved rhythms, and crystalline, gorgeously constructed hooks,the Houston-based outfit puts on a masterclass in the art of writingsongs that match the pain, pleasure, and confusion of modern living.Each track is sentimental without being precious, heavy withoutunnecessary griminess, pop-forward without letting the listener offthe hook easy: these songs ask for some form of hurt or desire to bepaid back to them in return, some promise that the listener is puttingequal skin put into the game.

Moments of Clarity reflects this matured sense of purpose.Longtime Narrow Head fans will undoubtedly still recognize thebands signature marriage of brutality and grace, and many of thecore themes of desolation, loss, and self-medication that the bandestablished on their prior records Satisfaction (2016, re-issued byRun for Cover in 2021) and 12th House Rock (2020, Run for Cover)continue to haunt the edges of Moments of Clarity. All the same,Moment of Clarity rises above the darkness with a sense of elegantrepose, like a butterfly-winged figure-skater skimming the hardenedrim of a freezing black lake. While not exactly optimistic in outlook,these songs simmer with a certain life affirming desire, a burningpassion to transcend pure cynicism and self-destruction, if only foreven a few seconds.