Heathen Disco Music Reviews #0124 (September 5, 2025)

This week’s new zoo reviews, comin’ right at you.

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On we go:

ALIEN EYELID Vinegar Hill LP (Tall Texan)

Approaching their third album, Houston balladeers Alien Eyelid achieve a depth heretofore unheard in their earlier work – it’s as if they’ve let their unique name lead them away from tradition, a sigil that’s found them comfortably sunken into some parallel dimension where American and UK rural rock grew off of one another without an ocean to separate them (for real, imagine where the culture would be right now if Help Yourself got to woodshed in Texas with Cold Sun). Vinegar Hill effortlessly skirts the twang/tea divide, a rebel-of-letters breath blowing out of some celestial vent circa 1971 and filling the lungs of this quartet, comprised of notables near and far (members peopled diverse ensembles such as Lower Dens, Balaclavas, Hearts of Animals, and The Mathletes in earlier lives). This one immediately paints the corners across their carveout, from flute-laced psych-folk explorations like opener “Blistered & Burned” and the 10-minute title track, featuring lead webs spun by local deity Tom Carter (of Charalambides and solo renown) to sticky bar-room floor waltzes into the dust and dark (“F.I.T.”), lost haunt residue (“Petition,” “Blue”) and Texas turdkickers like “Flys,” peppered by Morris’ reedy Jim Ford-esque voice and lyrics. If you’re still waiting for your Ryan Davis / Roadhouse album to arrive (and please be patient, he’s but one person), this is far more than a stopgap; it’s more or less an equal, rising above the notions of where this music could go into where it is. Goddamn gorgeous stuff here.