One of my close friends is currently on a road trip to visit their family in central Texas, so I thought the timing for covering this single was PERFECT.
This is my first introduction to UT Kirin, and I am shocked that I hadn’t come across them before, since I hang out in the DIY bedroom pop and shoegaze space quite a bit. Now that my ears have had the privilege of hearing them, I can never go back.
UT Kirin, originally from Berkeley, CA, has relocated to Austin, TX and created this single, Texas Highway Darkness, “mostly about the geography of Texas, which uses a sort of wistful and nostalgic look back at a relationship as a framing mechanism…I wanted it to feature surrealist evocative imagery of the Texas geography and roadways.” UT Kirin pulled this story off beautifully, with a repetitive kick drum that actually makes you feel like you’re in the car with them, flying down the Texas roads.
The guitar melody sticks in your brain like a piece of your favourite chewing gum and is just plain fun and chill, acting as an anchor as you traverse the many different geographical locations. The lyrics are gorgeously chosen and arranged; here are some of my favourites:
So three months ago I drove up to find you
Went to your folk’s house
But your neighbors said they’d moved to Baton Rouge
Got drunk by myself at the place
Where you told me you got in
With a fake in high school
Texas highway darkness slips by
Like a past-life consciousness
Paint me into the surrealist face of the desert
And rip me apart
And make it make sense
You once said
You’d like to traverse across the wasteland
Of the post-fallout American high plains with me
Just hold my hand as the bomb falls
The way that UT Kirin is able to articulately paint a saturated picture of a situation and associated feelings is unlike anything I’ve come across in a while; their style is truly unique to them. You can feel the yearning, the disappointment, and the tragedy all in vivid colours.
Check them out on social media and stream this single, Texas Highway Darkness. You’re in for a hell of a ride!
Written by Newt Fangs
