London’s High Vis announces their highly anticipated new album Guided Tour, set for release on October 18th via Dais Records. Alongside the album announcement, High Vis shares new single “Mind’s a Lie,” which marks new sonic territory for the band, synthesizing inspirations from house, garage, and Pirate Radio into a dance-punk anthem. “Mind’s a Lie” takes stabs of sampled female vocals by celebrated South London singer and DJ Ell Murphy built into a razor wire rhythm of low-slung bass, tense drums, and sparkling guitar before vocalist Graham Sayle’s staunch voice barks harsh truths. “Mind’s a Lie” arrives with a cinematic video shot throughout South East London, written and directed by Martina Pastori and starring Welsh movement artist Sem Osian. The “Mind’s a Lie” visuals explore themes of class, isolation and loneliness and also feature a cameo from Sayle in the boxing ring across Osian.

Speaking about the “Mind’s a Lie” video, Sayle shares, “I wanted to look at how quickly negative habits can take control when you lack a positive or constructive outlet for your energy. While the language of mental health provision has found fertile ground in the churn of social media, access to essential services has been decimated by the indifference of successive Tory governments. Further division has been stoked through governmental rhetoric and media scapegoating. Without adequate support in times of crisis, life can quickly spiral into an angry and isolated existence.”

On Guided Tour, High Vis sounds like a band reaching for new heights, bristling with energy. Recorded across a few weeks at Holy Mountain Studios in London with producer Jonah Falco and engineer Stanley Gravett (who also helmed the sessions for High Vis’ Blending), the results feel dynamic and dialed-in, like anthems burned into sense memory through sweat and repetition. The album’s 11 songs span the spectrum of contemporary guitar music, sharpened by experience, camaraderie, and societal frustrations. From swaggering street punk to jangling indie sneer to heavy alt to shoegazey spoken word, the group’s chemistry transmutes any style to their unique intensity.

Since forming in 2016, High Vis has polished their progressive hardcore sound with shades of post-punk, Brit pop, neo-psychedelia, and even Madchester groove, mapping a middle ground between hooks and fury, melodies and mosh pits. In 2019, High Vis released their debut album No Sense No Feeling, which broadened the scope of the hardcore veterans beyond scene while creating self-described “post-industrial-Britain misery punk.” The celebrated follow up, 2022’s Blending includes the tracks “Talk For Hours” and “Trauma Bonds” and not only expands upon the sonic breadth of High Vis, but vocalist Sayle opened his chest cavity through his lyrics discussing social issues and political miseries while reaching a hand out to folks listening to give a message of hope.

RIYL: Home Front, Show Me The Body, Militarie Gun, Spiritual Cramp