Winnipeg band Living Hour releases "Wheel" today, the first single from their fourth album Internal Drone Infinity, out October 17 via Keeled Scales.
Lyricist Sam Sarty writes: "The story of ‘Wheel’ begins with buying a car off Facebook Marketplace in BC. Turns out the car was junk, but I had no choice but to drive it home to Winnipeg. It took 3 days. I was driving through the mountains, and the headlights were so dim, and for a stretch there was nowhere to turn off. It felt like a weird, horrific video game–navigating the road and dodging danger and trying not to die. I also felt so deeply betrayed by all the men involved in the whole thing."
The song captures a certain powerlessness involved in the affair: the car salesman handing over the keys, the cops interrogating from the side of the road, the ex arguing from the passenger seat. Sarty continues: "In this song, I was able to imagine an alternate reality where I’m a vengeful spectator in these men's lives. What if I had died on the road, and what if I came back and plagued them all with my powerful essence that they so easily dismissed, contorted and took advantage of in order to sell me a fucked up car?"
Anchored by Sarty’s vivid lyricism, shaped by years as a projectionist conjuring stories in a dark theater, the band explores the quiet magic hidden in everyday life. With wistful vocals, textural distortion, and poetic detail, Living Hour capture the ache of memory, the mess of feeling, and the beauty in what remains.
Living Hour worked with engineer/producer Melina Duterte (Jay Som), who previously worked with Boygenius, Whitmer Thomas, and Lucy Dacus. Living Hour's combination of hushed lyrics and fuzzed-out guitar calls to mind artists like Squirrel Flower, Soccer Mommy, and Slow Pulp.