hangar 9 | digital album

ZEPHYR HEIRS

hangar 9 | digital album

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Recorded during 2017 across various locations in Johannesburg, South Africa.

While living on a whores rehabilitation farm, the band of four were playing shows at the local bars and music venues. After a few months they had caught the eyes of several prominent artists and had stirred up a name for unforgiving live performances and off-stage antics.

(*in order of recording*)

Zephyr Heirs recorded Tell Me How and Stripped To The Bone after being approached by local musical heroes Andre Kriel and Chris Van Der Walt to put some music together. Although nervous and inexperienced in the art of recording, the band were eager to impress.Over two back-to-back sessions, and 2 bottles of Jagermeister the boys completed what was shaping to be their first album.
Tell Me How features David on lead vocals, speaking about the dream of love and how we hold on to anything that resembles it.The song was written in Yeoville while the band were forming and rehearsing. Comparisons between vanity and lust sway between choruses that expose the desire of making a relationship work.
Stripped To The Bone is a song about hope in hopeless situations. Keagan sings lyrics penned by Lloyd Blumson (percussion) while experiencing bouts of depression and family struggles. The song is an edgy promise that in our heart of hearts, we know that there is meaning to all of our madness.

Hot Cakes, Heir On Our Chest and The Song That Shan't Be Named were recorded in a church. Keagan had been mixing the sound for the sermons there for a couple of years and was given the opportunity of using the space to record. This offer was promptly withdrawn after allegations of marijuana use on site. The band could not be contacted to comment

Hot Cakes is a song about young lust, fresh and frothing. The boys had had a taste of the recording process and the power that comes with a performing band. The singer is addressing a temptress, asking her to reveal her secrets and holiest of hollies. Images of women, engines, honey, money and fragrant bakeries pervade this piece.

Heir On Our Chest is a track about being alive. Zephyr Heirs sing about belief in oneself and the importance of acknowledging other people and their beliefs. The chorus gives us the impressions of a young band struggling to find meaning and relevance in modern life, while the verses focus praising people that have been met along the journey and finding the strength to keep being true to each other.

The Song That Shan't Be Named was written after a heated discussion about the human nature to evolve. This evolution almost always being more raw and simple than the previous incarnation. ZH were playing with the idea of writing a song both vulgar and modern while throwing in a fortune-cookie quote in the chorus. We are told that we should say what we feel, although we should never forget to feel what we say.

New Blues, LIP and On The Fly were recorded in 3 different areas. A basement, a garage/yoga studio and the living room of a friend. The band had left their place on the rehabilitation farm due to lack of money and financial arrears but were determined to finish what they had started.

New Blues is a call to arms. Governed by a steady and traditional blues backdrop, the song finds it's pace when given a modern swing. Zephyr Heirs ask us to move forward and tell the same old story with honesty and in a fresh light. The bridge of the song has the feeling of a war-rally. A disembodied voice prattles to the distant ears, tauntingly and daring for change.

L.I.P. (love in peace) is about moving through life with love. Bearing your teeth as you smile and looking at your existence with a degree of separation. We look back on everyone who has lived before us and are reminded that there is no inherent evil within. This song takes a moment to thank and consider where we are on Earth and to move forward with conviction.

On The Fly is a dirty song. Written on the spot during an impromptu blues jam, it has become a showstopper when performed by the group. The farm house was a mess, a squalor, a sty. Living in such acrid conditions brings a thickness over the skin. As the track morphs in to different emotions and developing isolation, we feel compelled towards the "ragaesque" chant that closes the song.

The final track is Arkham's Razor. It was written 3 days before the release of the album and was intended to display the growth of the band from the moment they began recording Tell Me How and Stripped to The Bone some months earlier. The song is a snarl at the world of materialism and false dreams. With lamentation over seasons past, we are painted a picture of the world in media. A song that holds nothing back and dares to call out violence and bloodshed against brothers.
 

credits

released July 10, 2017