“Open Sea” was recorded by Chris Fielding (ex-Conan, etc.) at Foel Studios at the same time Jessica Ball‘s post-MWWB solo-project set its debut album, Dark Light to tape — or, you know, to hard drive — but didn’t make the cut. Sometimes a thing needs to cook. The track would seem to have been the beneficiary of the time since that album came out in 2024, as Ball went back and reworked the vocals and now the song is public ahead of a London show this coming weekend at Camden’s famed Black Heart.

Those who followed Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard/MWWB on their journey will recognize the heft in “Open Sea,” and the focus on melody corresponding to that. According to the press release below, Ball is in-progress on a sophomore full-length for the project and rediscovering some of the joy in making a riff sound heavy on a planetary level. This is only good news, and with EYE‘s penchant for texture, it seems like there is plenty of room for prevailing philosophies to align.

If you didn’t hear the first EYE record, “Open Sea” — just six minutes long — feels like a good way to get introduced:

EYE release new single “Open Sea”

Listen to “Open Sea” – https://cargo-independent.ffm.to/v8f0rnmxhk

EYE, the band formed by Jessica Ball (Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard) return with a reworked heavy-psych bliss-out of a unreleased track and taster of new things to come from the Welsh heavy dark-wavers who gave us “Dark Light’, an acclaimed debut album in 2024 on New Heavy Sounds (Cwfen, Shooting Daggers, Death Pill).

An ethereal dark-folk intro of clean finger-picking and Carpenter synth lulls us into a sense of false calm before Ball unleashes one of her most crushing MWWB-esque fuzz riffs. By revisiting the track Ball has now delivered one of her most memorable melodies with a huge chorus recalling Mammoth Weed in full flow – Blackwater Holylight, Faetooth eat-your-heart-out.

A stand-alone track for the time being but Jessica explains where things are going…

“The release of ‘Open Sea’ was quite unexpected in a way! We had initially recorded it in Foel Studios with the intention of it being on our first album ‘Dark Light’. For whatever reason, it didn’t make it on the album. It’s a song I had written a very long time ago, and it’s funny how you can favour your new material over the old stuff. I also wasn’t keen on the vocal melody anymore.

Well we recently came across it again, and I decided to have a go at some new vocals with fresh ears as enough time had passed. I liked what I did, so we sent it to Chris Fielding to work his magic… What came back was a fierce track that we absolutely loved. So I’m glad it is seeing the light of day.

Since the release of Dark Light, we’ve been playing a few select shows and working on our live sound a lot more. I’ve also been writing and working towards our second album. This single (Open Sea) has inspired me to make next album a lot heavier, and bring back the riffs!”

EYE are also set to support label mates Crumbling Ghost, who launch their album with a show at London’s Black Heart on 7th August.

Tickets are on sale now – https://dice.fm/partner/tickets/event/bb2b9x-crumbling-ghost-four-album-release-show-7th-aug-the-black-heart-london-tickets

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EYE, “Open Sea”