False Bliss – To the Forest (Video Premiere)

"DTHPDL is dead, we're now called FALSE BLISS". That was the statement the Edinburgh four-piece – comprised of Alastair Chivers, David MacDonald, John Muir and Christopher Laidler – shared on Facebook at the start of the year. And with the news of their new moniker came the news of a debut album, Ritual Terrains, set for release on 5 April via Scottish Fiction.

Following the free download release of Am I You? Are You Me?, False Bliss are now ready to share the latest single to be taken from the album, To the Forest, which features additional vocals from Edinburgh-based, Greek singer-songwriter Katherine Aly.

Of the single, Chivers tells us: "There’s a duality going on throughout To the Forest, which made it an early candidate for a single. The call and response between John’s echo-laden, strung out guitar and Dave’s heavy synth, the cacophony of the bridge against Katherine’s amazing vocals and the lyrics: this image of looking into wooded darkness and that something is staring back. Can you come to terms with your true self when forced into confrontation?"

"To me, there’s a real imposing malevolence where the song feels like a reckoning, thematically, between nature and humankind," MacDonald adds. "Everything feels distinct and perfectly placed – the music, lyrics and structure. I don’t think we purposely did it that way. To the Forest is greater than the sum of its parts, much like all the songs from the album."

The Skinny are delighted to be premiering the music video for To the Forest, directed by Panos Baras of Edinburgh-based band Numbers Are Futile. Of the video, Baras tells us: "I think the lyrics and the music give off a sinister and quite dark impression so I decided to mix rough animation and late night camera footage from Pollok Park. I tried to colour the footage giving a Lynchian aesthetic, sort of unnatural and ominous but with very cinematic lighting.

"With regards to the animation, this is the second time I’ve made one. As there was little time for precise and smooth movement, I went for more coarse lines and textures but with lots of details for the keen viewer. My main influences were Len Lye, Oskar Fischinger, Norman McLaren, Joan Miro and Ruffmercy who I discovered just recently and blew my socks off. The guy does what I've wanted to do for ages but didn't know how."

Watch the video for To the Forest in the above YouTube player (click here if it's not displaying properly).

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Ritual Terrains is released on 5 Apr via Scottish Fiction; False Bliss play three album launch dates at The Cellar, Aberdeen, 4 Apr; Leith Depot, Edinburgh, 5 Apr; The 13th Note, Glasgow, 6 Apr

falsebliss.bandcamp.com/album/ritual-terrains