Skip to content
Premieres

Hear Deafheaven’s Gloriously Shredded ‘Sunbather’

Deafheaven 'Sunbather' Stream

San Francisco’s Deafheaven are set to turn the black metal game on its head with the June 11 arrival of Sunbather. The group’s second album is experimental even within its niche field — which is to say it’s not afraid to get genuinely pretty, or to play with pop conventions even as it subverts them wildly. In April, we got to see the four-piece hard at work creating their heavy opus. Now we have the glorious light of the new LP’s 10-minute titular track to soak up. Stereogum first shared “Sunbather,” which opens with a swarming flurry of guitars and then vacillates between panoramic vistas and shredded doom. Head screamer George Clarke scorches his vocal cords for the cause, pushing the song along through a handful of distinct movements. The resulting firestorm is a mix of Deftones’ darkness, Mogwai’s expansiveness, Jesu’s heft, and Fuck Buttons’ intensity. Stream it below, then take the necessary steps to make sure you can witness this in person.

Deafheaven tour dates:

May 22 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
May 23 – Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex
May 24 – Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex
June 19 – Tempe, AZ @ The Yucca Tap Room
June 21 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
June 22 – Austin, TX @ Red 7
June 23 – Houston, TX @ Mango’s
June 25 – Orlando, FL @ Will’s Pub
June 26 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
June 26 – North Birmingham, AL @ The Forge
June 27 – Charlotte, NC @ The Milestone Club
June 29 – Raleigh, NC @ Kings Barcade
June 30 – Washington, DC @ Rock N Roll Hotel
July 1 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Barbary
July 2 – Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus Bar
July 3 – Cambridge, MA @ T.T. The Bear’s Place
July 5 – Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog Shop
July 6 – Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
July 7 – Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick Lounge
July 8 – Kansas City, MO @ The Record Bar
July 9 – Denver, CO @ The Marquis Theater
July 10 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
July 11 – Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
July 13 – Portland, OR @ Bunker Bar
July 15 – San Francisco, CA @ The Bottom of the Hill