Somewhere in the chasm between mischief and terror, is Reuben Hollebon’s unsettling, magnetic music. The English folk musician, who has served as an audio engineer for Basement Jaxx and Courtney Barnett, has a decidedly sinister vibration, and his second single, “Haystacks”, is giving me the creeps.

After a weekend filled with watching a wide range of horror films, I was perfectly primed for the disquieting visuals that accompany Hollebon’s “Haystacks”, from his forthcoming LP, Terminal Nostalgia. Deja vu-esque visuals accompany Hollebon’s sibilant storytelling about a young boy turning into a menacing older man. Both the younger and older version of our protagonist/antagonist visit the same locations and perform the same self-immolating actions–in fact it almost looks like the older version of the character is stalking the younger version. The repeated phrase, “I think that boy’s in trouble,” does little to clear up the ambiguity. Is he in trouble because he is destined to be a weird cake-punching old man, or is he in trouble because he is a soon-to-be victim?

After listening to “Haystacks”, I highly recommend you check out Hollebon’s previous single “Faces”, which has a similarly unnerving video that explores the capacity for kinky habits to become corrupted, dangerous behaviors. If these two tracks are any indication of the tone of Hollebon’s debut album, I could not be more excited/terrified.

Terminal Nostalgia will drop in early 2016 via Bright Antenna Records.

—

Featured Image by Myriam Santos