Track Of The Day 27/7 – Then Thickens

'Heaven Alive'

Sleep is an absolutely vital part of the bodily cycle, a chance to shut down and process the events of the day.

So when it's interrupted, the body can be excused for doing strange things. Then Thickens singer Jon-Lee Martin knows this only too well – during writing sessions for the band's 2015 album 'Colic' he experienced exactly this.

He explains: "Around the time of writing the album ‘Colic’ I was riddled with it and most days I'd be a walking corpse. Day terrors and hallucinations were common and to some extent, still are. Attempting to remedy this, I became obsessed with sleep promotion, lullabies, in particular, really helped me relax. The album is book ended and covertly stuffed full of these melodies throughout but 'Heaven Alive' really evokes that time period perfectly. I forgot my mantra."

It all lends itself to a definite feeling of noir, a slight creepiness that could only come from the middle of the night. New single 'Heaven Alive' evokes this mantra perfectly, a soothing riposte to the demons that plagued him.

Clash is able to premiere the full video, with Jon-Lee commenting: "I find making videos incredibly uncomfortable, torturous even, it's the reason I'm in so few of them. The last video ('My Sunday', shot in an abandoned psychiatric hospital over four days) was a god damn nightmare for tender nerves. I was dipping my toe and a vicious, dog sized, piranha bit my leg clean off. After that I said I'd only make another video if we did it at my house and for it not to take all bastard day!! I love the result , it's as honest as the song and I'm up for another go now."

Watch the video now.

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