Video Premiere: Irma Vep – It Runs Slow

Originally hailing from Llanfairfechan in North Wales, Stevens later relocated to his current home of Manchester, where the Irma Vep story began to develop. Often a moniker for sparse, off-kilter solo efforts, sometimes a collective moniker for a heroically experimental band that also includes Oldham troubador Kiran Leonard (among others), Irma Vep is now a firmly established cornerstone of the city's ever-active DIY scene.

With a prodigious tour schedule that has thus far taken him to Europe and the US, Stevens somehow finds the time to make records in between; new track It Runs Slow is taken from his forthcoming album No Handshake Blues, due for release in January 2017. With a homemade video inspired by obscure autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) techniques, it's the perfect summation of his familiar yet unsettling take on classic songwriting tropes.

As Stevens himself says: "I usually get to sleep by watching ASMR videos on YouTube; massages, chiropodist, etc, and stumbled across this Hungarian stick massage practise. I was shocked that watching something so painful happen to someone relaxed me."

Catch Irma Vep live:

7 Dec – Liverpool, Naked Lunch Cafe
16 Dec – Manchester, Fuel Cafe (w/ Cult Party, Jo Rose)
7 Jan – Liverpool, house show (w/Jon Collin + dbh)
8 Jan – London, venue TBC
9 Jan – Brighton, The Hope and Ruin (w/ Jon Collin) 
10 Jan – Bath, The Nest (w/Jon Collin)
12 Jan – Stoke, Pilgrims Pit (w/ Jon Collin)
13 Jan – Sheffield, DIMA (w/ Jon Collin)
14 Jan – Manchester, Fuel (w/ Jon Collin + dbh)
28 Jan – Manchester, Soup Kitchen (w/ Duds, The Foetals...)
8 Mar – Bath, St James Wine Vaults (w/Jon Collin)
10 Mar – Manchester, Gullivers (w/Jon Collin)
14 Apr – Salford, Islington Mill (Fat Out Fest)

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No Handshake Blues is released via Faux Discx and Comfortable on a Tightrope on 13 Jan 2017