HAAL Are A Cure To The Jaded And The Bored, And They Stand On The Toes Of Giants.

With “Plate 43 (...Or Standing on the Toes of Giants)”, HAAL step fully into their own mythos - beyond genre, beyond words, and possibly beyond Earth.

Local yet otherworldly, HAAL have swung themselves back into the ‘grime-light’.  They’re more than your noisy basement-rock team hounding smackheads stuck to sticky floors.  HAAL have successfully done what all bands seek to do in their tenure and have curated an immaculately new sound.  Evident in the way they’re described in interviews and media packs with a thousand descriptive words on top of ‘genre hopping’ and ‘experimental’, people lack the term to pin down the sound HAAL because quite possibly the word has not yet been thought up.

Their latest track, and their opus, “Plate 43 (...Or Standing on the Toes of Giants)” is the next in a long line of psychotropic work that bring instrumentation to the forefront without neglecting their trademark guttural bellowing.  The saxophone, DIY pedal board, and incendiary violin all come together to produce bonfire of noise befitting of a moody and nefarious meeting and melding of dark thoughts.  The track crescendos after a serious reduction, or concentrating, of harmonies, then exploding into a visceral yet clear and uplifting space-age sound.  It is undeniable in its confirmation of excellence, and secure in its feel, shedding industry for natural overgrowth and sunbeaten sampling.

Their approach has been consolidated since their inception 5 years ago, building and indulging in their own creative flow.  On this process, vocalist Alfie Hay stated, “This song began way back in 2019 with a couple of chords when I first began writing music…” “…I let my subconscious drift into an unwitting state with the intention of utilising a creative flow to try and create something that felt fresh and new”.  Further, in a recent talk with the band outside of Outer Town Festival, they agreed that although beginning as a grungy, rocky group, seeing a band play like SCALER (FKA SCALPING) was a real wakeup call to create something that no one was doing; describing the event as lifechanging.  For those in attendance at Outer Town, one could image Bristol denizens saying the same thing about them.  If God made the world, HAAL made Outer Town Festival.

HAAL are continuing their tour to the last bloody leg, playing in venues around Brighton, Bristol, Falmouth, and London.  If you want a good time, don’t wait.

Photography by: Jess Agnew