Out of the blue with Houston troubadours Alien Eyelid; press photo courtesy of the band.

Rolling down the hilltops, mountains, along the riverside, trucking through voluminous valleys, and cities are sounds from places of heart. These sun soaked, solar seeking audio waves reverberate with a sparkle of ingenuity, broadcasting cautionary fables, tales from the rugged roads, tales of chancers, ne'er-do-wells, dubious liaisons, and derelicts with hearts of gold. They bring you to the places you have never known, the spaces and situations that strike senses of familiarity, unearthing the abandoned avenues, testaments to the lesser treaded tributaries, and tributes to the fallen angels, transgressive devils, and the demons that tie them all together.

Delivering a testimonial to the Houston undergrounds and surrounding southwestern outposts are local loves Alien Eyelid, presenting their third album Vinegar Hill. Lead by Tyler Morris, with Brett Taylor, Will Adams, Justin Terrell, and Mlee Marie: the band push past the honky-tonk hype and outlaw aesthetics for something sincere that spans the interstates and rough highways of open country roads. Alien Eyelid commands a kind of space craft that fuses together an amalgam of modern touchstones like the album rock that spanned from 1967-1979. The group charts a course through the stories that have made an impact on their lives, the lives of friends, families, folks in their orbit, careening through the stories and sentiments of people they have lost, the feelings around them, everything that was, everything that will be, and everything, and nothing, that will ever be again.

Vinegar Hill ventures into the vestiges of the locales and locals that are larger than life. An album name inspired from a historic northwest corner of what is now downtown Houston, Alien Eyelid builds upon the stories of ramblers, gamblers, hustlers, and bustlers with their own mythic tales of modern era legends, antiheroes, and wayward wanderers. Giving the world a magical glimpse into the Houston you have never heard before, "Blistered & Burned" begins the record like a southern fried psych pop pastoral. Motifs of world weary and worn troubadours and rabble-rousers abound, offering expositions of those seeking the epistemological paradoxes of anguish and enlightenment alike. "F.I.T." drags like a drifter trying to get by, seeking to start a new life somewhere else, returning home, still stuck in a stagnant cycle, all the while sounding like the cinematic opener to an all-American odyssey that Harry Dean Stanton never had the chance to star in. Driving down the Spencer Highway, Alien Eyelid reminisces about the old "Nesadel Club" in Pasadena, Texas that pays homage to a venue that once hosted the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Mickey Gilley, and countless others in a roadhouse ready ballad that slowly dances in a waltz to last for all time.

The electric aura of the band is on full display with the buzzing rock and bop of "Flys", soaring into the meditative haze of "Petition" that features AE's newest member Mlee taking the vocal reins toward alternate terrains that exist beyond the borderlines of the material plane. The group brings it all back to the basics with classic dive bar tales of backwards bastards of the badge and their perpetual war on the free-spirited folks that forever wind up on the wrong side of the arbitrary books of law on "Jail". Classic country rockers are constantly paired with mesmerizing works like "Blue" that are transcendent like the hymns of a pagan collective, or charmed chants from a commune seeking a greater degree of solace and safety (whilst surrounded by the harshness of an unforgiving world of adversarial forces and vices).

All around the table with Alien Eyelid; photographed by Savanah Terrell.

The 10-minute title track epic takes it all to back to a bygone era where "Vinegar Hill" was a thriving and lively section of the Houston landscape. A halcyon world of perpetual entertainment, houses of ill repute, odd aromas, and a whole lotta healthy ruckus for good measure. Closing it out is "Easy Street", taking it back to those dusty roads, abandoned old saloons, rusted out trucks sitting lithified by the side of the ravines, forever pondering the path forward in the face of abrupt life changes and other such discontinuities. Vinegar Hill rides the old trails along the rough routes and treacherous trajectories of rugged living. Alien Eyelid presents an earthbound and bonded view into the worlds you thought you knew, the stories of what has transpired before, the areas that are all but forgotten and left to faded memories and hard cover history books, and the fables of folks who have passed on through, passed on by, and passed on from these ancient lands.

Tyler Morris offered some thoughts on their new album, the band’s evolution, synergy, and so forth:

We already had a strong chemistry as a four-piece band, but when Mlee joined Alien Eyelid, that chemistry evolved even further. The shift in our sound happened organically as we began working on new material together. Although the songs on the album were written individually, they truly came to life once we collaborated and shaped them as a group. That process gave rise to Vinegar Hill.

The album was recorded in Brett’s studio, located just east of downtown Houston. He took on the challenge of engineering and producing the album, which helped define its tonal character. Each song carries a slightly different touch, and the freedom of this process allowed us to fully explore our ideas.
The theme of the album is deeply connected to the city of Houston and the people with whom we share our lives and experiences. We hope you enjoy this musical endeavor.

Alien Eyelid’s album Vinegar Hill arrives September 5.

PREMIERE | Alien Eyelid, 'Vinegar Hill'