Witch Fever have returned with an atmospheric new single, I Saw You Dancing.
The track is lifted from their forthcoming new album Congregation, which is due to arrive on October 21 via Sony’s Music For Nations.
I Saw You Dancing follows the previously-released singles Congregation and Blessed Be Thy, and is accompanied by a horror-inspired music video, directed by Sam O’Leary.
The visual is composed of lo-fi, creepy footage filmed on a handheld camera, in similar style to the 1999 cult classic horror film The Blair Witch Project.
The narrative of the video appears to depict bassist Alex Thompson, guitarist Alisha Yarwood and drummer Annabelle Joyce as they are indoctrinated into a strange cult by vocalist Amy Walpole. Meanwhile, bizarre rituals and creepy happenings unfold as the song progresses, which itself explores Walpole’s experiences in the charismatic church she grew up in, and of feeling watched by men as a teenage girl.
“This is a song on the album that we’re really excited about as really it’s the first time we’ve written and allowed a song to have space and time to breathe!” she explains.
“We’ve been so used to writing quick thrashy tunes it was fun to experiment and write slower ones for the album. We really love the drone of the guitar, the rattle of the bass and the reverb on the snare drum, as well as the vocals being a little more relaxed and expressive”.
Elaborating on the video Amy adds, “Horror has always been a genre that we’ve drawn inspiration from for lyrics and artwork because it’s such a potent and multi-layered genre. Horror has such a potential for holding a mirror up to society to reveal the oppression it continues to uphold.
“Typical elements of horror include violence, suspense, fear and the abject which are powerful fictional tools to expose the dark underbelly of society. Horror isn’t known for being the most progressive or inclusive genre, often centering straight white men, and portraying women and people of colour as either helpless victims, monstrous villains, or a side story to push the male characters plot line forward. Furthermore horror has also historically ignored the existence of marginalised genders and members of the LGBTQ+ community.”
Of the creative process behind the album, the vocalist says: “As our first album we’re really excited to just get it out there. We feel that it’s a step above what we’ve done before as we had a chance to experiment with sound and structure. It was our first opportunity to explore writing a body of work which was challenging but has been so rewarding!”
She adds: “It pushed our creative process because we also had to think about the songs sitting side by side on an album! We tried to break out of what makes a typical ‘witch fever’ song whilst still being true to what makes our sound what it is.”
Watch the video for I Saw You Dancing below:
Congregation tracklist:
01. Blessed Be Thy
02. Beauty and Grace
03. At The Core
04. Congregation
05. Deadlights
06. Market
07. I Saw You Dancing
08. Snare
09. Bloom
10. Sour
11. Bloodlust
12. Slow Burn
13. 12
