Heaven's Jail Conjures An Ominous Ritual With 'Long Island Sound'

Synths and laptop beats might seem ever-present right now, but don’t count out good old guitar rock just yet. From The War On Drugs’ sprawling moody jams to Strand Of Oaks’ explosive anthems to Ty Segall’s lip-curling glam, it’s already been a particularly strong year for bands putting their spin on familiar classic rock sounds. Compared to those three, Heaven’s Jail may be a relative newcomer. But the Brooklyn band is still capable of exploring similar territory on its just-released album, Ace Called Zero.

Heaven's Jail makes blustery rockers perfect for drives on wide open highways, yet it's brooding enough to channel the Pacific Northwest -- as seen through the lens of Twin Peaks or The X-Files. The distinctive visuals of those shows certainly comes to mind in the band’s eerie new music video for the “Long Island Sound.”

Directed by Curtis Wayne Millard, the video’s faded found-footage home movie aesthetic adds an unsettling aura and spooky atmosphere suitable for a monster-of-the-week tale: A young woman (Catrin Lloyd Bollard) walks alone through a hazy, sun-stroked wooded area and comes across an abandoned campground and lone tent. Upon entering, she comes across a bizarre character (Frank Haines) with an ability to tell her fortune and conjure brief glimpses of the past and alternate lives through ominous rituals that blend dreams and reality.

Here's what the band had to say about the song and video:

"Long Island Sound" is a short film that draws from archetypal imagery, ancient dreams, and talismanic magic. An important theme for the Heaven's Jail project since its inception has been the tension between the heroic and the vulgar, the elevated and the debased. The short mixes classic cinema, B horror, and experimental film in such a way that the boundaries become porous and coeval. Like all visuals deployed by the Jail it is meant to stand alone as well as occupy a place in a larger constellation, and like aspects of the band's music it metes out ambiguity, fear, beauty and mystery.

It’s a provocative video that remarkably matches the song's shifting narrative perspectives and underlying darkness in Heaven’s Jail’s music.

While frontman Francesco Ferorelli grew up on hip-hop and metal bands, he came to discover folk and country much later on -- thanks to some cheap Johnny Cash Greatest Hits CDs. But it’s clear that heavier influence still lingers in the shadows of his spacious and speaker-rattling music. Ace Called Zero was produced by Phosphorescent’s Matthew Houck, who helped the band hone these songs into something powerful. “Francesco is my favorite kind of songwriter,” says Houck. “Sensitive but not sappy, smart but not precious. He has the ability to casually sneak complex imagery and metaphor into a deceptively simple package.”

Heaven’s Jail’s songs immediately recall Crazy Horse or Jason Molina, but also Sabbath and Thin Lizzy -- tapping into the folk rock and country music of the South by way of Laurel Canyon cult psychedelia. Full of searing guitars and emotional heft one moment, and raw intimacy the next, it's a slow-boiling and affecting sound sure to burrow under the skin.

Heaven's Jail's album, Ace Called Zero is out now and the band is playing an album release show tonight at Baby's All Right.