With only two singles on Spotify and three additional tracks on Soundcloud, the four-piece alt-rock band New Media have already performed in various beloved Los Angeles venues, including classics like The Smell and The Mint and niche bars like The Virgil and Ham and Eggs. Their range of performance spots are almost as diverse as their discography. Whereas their February-released single “Thin Ice” embraces a feel-good indie sound, New Media’s most recent release on May 5th, “Tunnel Vision,” might as well be from a different artist altogether.
What strings their sound together is the inspired post-punk undercurrents of each track. “Tunnel Vision” is a perfect example: the introduction leads with heavy distorted guitars paired with light crashing cymbals that storm the listener’s ears with nostalgia and gloom. The song then dives in with a shoegaze-y melody and dreamy vocals that constantly defy the song’s heavy body. “Tunnel Vision” is the embodiment of the strange limbo offered by the dead of night, serving as a soundtrack to the introspective drives through tunnels and across empty highways.
To be simultaneously inspired and indifferent is a vague feeling that floats in the same abyss as insomnia and nostalgia, perfectly captured in the song’s lyrics: “Tunnel vision comes but I’ve lost my place / Doused in the drowsiness while the hours continue to race.”
The song fades out with an otherworldly guitar solo, extending these themes to the edges of the universe as the listener waits for the next moon to dispel reality once again.
Listen to “Tunnel Vision” here:
