Alien Eyelid Unveils ‘Vinegar Hill’: A Houston Story
Alien Eyelid’s new title track single ‘Vinegar Hill’ represents a shift in their music style, moving toward a sound that is richer and more textured than before.
Alien Eyelid come from Houston, a city that seeps into their sound like a slow-moving river. While many bands chase the wide-open skies of Cosmic Americana, this group keeps their feet in the dust, pulling from classic rock and folk with a subtle nod to the 80s. Their songs feel like a collage of everyday moments — the hum of radios through car windows, the crackle of shop speakers, the distant rhythm of a boombox left on a kitchen counter. It is this grounded atmosphere that gives them their unique voice.
Houston is sprawling and complex and Alien Eyelid reflect that perfectly. They are outsiders even among outsiders, carrying the city’s edges in their music. Their tours stretch across Texas but Houston remains at the core, like a secret thread woven through their songs. Away from the spotlight and noise of trends, the band found a space to create something real.
That space gave birth to ‘Vinegar Hill,’ their third album. It is a record shaped by country’s soul but also touched by progressive and folk influences. Tyler Morris’s songwriting feels lonely and wide, pulling from the starkness of Pearls Before Swine and even the complexity of some progressive bands. The band works as a collective here with Brett Taylor, Will Adams, Justin Terrell, and newcomer Mlee Marie Mains. Mains adds saxophone, keys, flute, and harmonica and even takes lead vocals on the track Petition.
Guest musician Tom Carter adds a nice guitar tone on the title track, deepening the album’s mood. ‘Vinegar Hill’ also wrestles with heavy themes like addiction, loss, and the quiet grief that haunts many lives. Songs touch on friends lost to Fentanyl and the small moments of reflection found in bars and empty streets.
When asked about title track, the band said: “The concept for the song ‘Vinegar Hill’ began with Sig Byrd’s Houston, a book compiled from his Houston Chronicle articles of the 1950s, written under the pen name “The Stroller.” This early Houston red-light and entertainment district, dating back to the late 1860s, was notorious for its strong criminal element involved in gambling, prostitution, violence, and drug sales. This environment serves as the backdrop for the song, where the main character seeks a place of anonymity and absolution for murder. The song is unique in our catalogue, as it features a lengthy improvisational section. The idea was to incorporate most (if not all) of the album’s timbral elements into a “free-form” piece of music that ebbs and flows in texture and intensity. Tom Carter [Charalambides, etc] joined us for this section, adding his brand of avant garde guitar expressions.”
Alien Eyelid tell stories that sit alongside legends like Blaze Foley and Townes Van Zandt while carrying their own Houston sound. Upcoming ‘Vinegar Hill’ might be a great way of finding transcendence in the cracks and shadows of life.
Headline photo: Savanah Terrell
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