bloody/bath enter this track with a searing soul in tow that refuses to be released until the band has completed their business. “Heather”, the opening track on their latest EP All Love Unfelt, announces itself by kicking down doors and screaming to high hell. Its lyrics are not so much sung as they are roared from a guttural pit in the stomach, making sure to leave an indelible first impression on the listener. The electric guitar seems to shiver in the wake of its vocal accompaniment, keeping its distance but still ever present. You can’t blame the instrumentation for taking a slight step back when the songwriting presents such an effusive, almost obsessive connection to someone: “In the morning sun I’ll fester in the wake of your love.” The song’s narrator breaks themselves down to miniscule microorganisms suppurating a wound, bringing their object of affection down with them.

There are moments of almost gothic romance that the lyrics bring to light too – the narrator implores their sweetheart to “drag my body from the lake” and give them new life after death. They seem to possess a timeless connection across mortal realms, tied together by fate as Orpheus and Eurydice were in Greek myth. That’s the vision of this love that the narrator postulates, but the answer box on the other side is empty. There’s an intoxicating sense of mystery brooding throughout “Heather” as the listener is left to wonder what the track’s namesake would think of how their connection is presented. The desire to know the truth behind these arresting lyrical vignettes is ultimately unsatiated, providing only an open door to explore the other five songs from bloody/bath’s extended play. All in all “Heather” is an excellent way for the band to hook their audience in and make them think about why a love like this is insistent on sticking around beyond the mortal coil. The constancy of the shrieking electric guitar seems to drive that immortal feeling home, producing a spinning wheel of kinetic energy that pushes the emotional weight of the track to the forefront of the listener’s mind. How could they pay attention to anything else?