Tombstones in Their Eyes Release New Single 'Sweet As Pie'

“The sunny sounding harmonies disguise the struggle in the song,” confesses vocalist/guitarist John Treanor of Los Angeles-based psychedelic shoegazers TOMBSTONES IN THEIR EYES about their sunny and hazy new single “Sweet As Pie” from their upcoming new album Asylum Harbour out this fall via Kitten Robot. What is the struggle, pray tell? “The struggle is being able to pull yourself out of darkness and into light,” he answers.

Like many psyche-rock songs, the guitar fuzz heavily heaped often masks a deeper darkness obscured by distortion and reverb. “The song features lyrics ‘Coming from the darkness / I see your light / Coming from the darkness / I know I can fly’, which highlights the hope and yearning that is present in many of our darkest sounding songs,” he explains. “The lyrics are about struggling to find your place in the world.”

Drenched deep in minor guitar chords and a propulsive beat that blankets Treanor’s distinctive vocals, “Sweet As Pie” is marked by piercing guitar notes that bob along the surface, evoking the gauzy wonderland of shoegaze. Pristinely produced by Kitten Robot mastermind Paul Roessler (T.S.O.L., Nina Hagen, The Screamers), it solidifies the current band line-up of Phil Cobb (guitar), Paul Boutin (guitar), Stephen Striegel (drums/percussion), Courtney Davies (vocals), and Nic Nifoussi (bass) with additional support from Paul Roessler (vocals/keys).

“‘Sweet As Pie’ is one of the older songs on the new record,” Treanor explains. “It was written and recorded in 2021/2022 and came about shortly after we brought Courtney into the band and really showcases her beautiful voice. I like the song a lot and I think one of the reasons that we didn't release it sooner was due to the seeming lightness of the song.”Set for release later this year, Asylum Harbour is an album of resurfacing, a salve that heals the PTSD that Treanor, and many of us, had undergone from 2022 to 2023 after re-emerging from the pandemic. Named after a maritime phrase for a safe place to wait out a storm, the album showcases him “coming out of a dark place” and he says the songs, for the most part, “reflect that journey. It was a year of painfully stripping away old ways and coming into the light and shedding its reliance on fuzz and massive layers of guitars and focusing on the voices and harmonies of the band. If anything, that's definitely a thing on Asylum Harbour, although the fuzz guitars remain. The record marks, to my mind, a further evolution of the band with the voice(s) becoming a main feature rather than being used as another instrument.”

With its origins a decade strong, TITE continues to evolve and expand, stretching its psychedelic core, expertly blending psychedelia and shoegaze with heavy, fuzzed-out guitars over reverb-drenched, dreamy vocals. “To me, Asylum Harbour feels more cohesive in both sound and theme,” he concludes. “Asylum Harbour is about the beauty of pain and being stripped to one's core.”

“Sweet As Pie” is available on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Pandora, Amazon Music and YouTube. It is the second single from Asylum Harbour, which will be released this fall via Kitten Robot Records and was produced by Paul Roessler (T.S.O.L., Nina Hagen, The Screamers).

Tombstones In Their Eyes is John Treanor (vocals, guitar), Phil Cobb (guitar), Paul Boutin (guitar), Stephen Striegel (drums/percussion), Courtney Davies (vocals), and Nic Nifoussi (bass) with additional support from Paul Roessler (vocals/keys). 

Photo credit: Karin Johansson