Alien Eyelid and the proggy dirt road indie folk rock psychedelia of "Vinegar Hill"

"I rode into Frost Town on a pallet-made raft / With nothing in my pocket, a vagabond's past / Searching for a hollow where I can hide my face / Underneath the red lights, maybe get a taste..."

The proggy dirt road indie folk rock psychedelia of "Vinegar Hill", by Houston’s Alien Eyelid, is a beautiful death spiral of a song, iterations of 70's folk and psych rock not afraid to crush expectations. I mean as I listened to the first 2 and a half minutes of wonderment and great songwriting I am feeling an engaging pull as the song rolls down fairly conventional roads until it doesn't. The rest of the song becomes a 7 and a half minute instrumental that feels like an inebriated rumination on what came before or what is in your head or whatever buttons these beautiful, surprising sonic abstractions push. 

For me, "Vinegar Hill" feels like a collision of a lot of things, ambient, kind of slacker, psychedelic rock, folk, jangle pop, indie rock filtered through a strong sense of storytelling and avant garde leaning musicality. Sort of (I stress sort of) like The Dream Syndicate, Kurt Vile, The Marshall Tucker Band, The Babies, Dr. Dog and that ONE Reo Speedwagon song AND if Radiohead had steeped themselves in The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's 1988 "Workin Band" album for six months in the mid 2000's and it helped shape their sound. That is the kind of sensibility I am feeling with the very unique song. I know this is a kind of crooked smile descriptor and that it might not make any sense to you but it certainly does to me. There is also a kind of experimental Beatles vibe going on at the end but I almost hate to bring up the Beatles on reviews anymore because, duh, they are always at least small seeds of inspiration or unknown osmotic artistic fiber (right?). All this and very personal lyrics, a keen storytelling eye and obvious passion for degrees of bloodletting. 

By the way, this beautiful mind blower is the title track of the band's third album dropping on September 5, 2025. 

LINER NOTES (excerpted / bracketed):

[Just like Houston itself, the band are outsiders, even in an outsider’s game. They embrace and embody Houston and its place outside the usual musical boundaries. Tour routes rope around the city, stretched out to the college crowds in Austin or the more enticing numbers in Dallas. Houston’s left to Houston, and Alien Eyelid have traced every crack of its pavement. They’ve condensed themselves from its hazy aura. Isolation’s not all bad, though. Sometimes, away from the crowded stage something pure finds its way into being. Expectations don’t press down so hard and fads tend to get carried off in the crosswinds. In that environment, the band began work on their third album, Vinegar Hill, a record that’s scarred by the soul of country. Yet, it feels just as indebted to an unlikely air of prog and folk, with songwriter Tyler Morris finding fusion between the stark loneliness of Pearls Before Swine, King Crimson, and the desolation of desert towns baked in heat and hopelessness.]

[The band’s swing towards a more progressive sound finds them embracing a more communal approach. Morris’s songwriting builds the backbone of Vinegar Hill, but Brett Taylor, Will Adams, Justin Terrell and new addition Mlee Marie Mains all help to carve the album into shape. Mains, a Houstonstudio regular who’d already been in the band’s circle, joins the band full time for Vinegar Hill. Her sax could be found streaking through a couple of tracks on Bronze Star, but here she becomes an integral part of the group, adding keys, sax, flute, harmonica, and even singing lead vocals on “Petition.” Elsewhere, “Blue” also finds Morris away from the mic, with Taylor taking on the lead. The ensemble approach enriches the band’s already magnetic charms, but the band’s expansion isn’t only internal. South Texas legend Tom Carter (Charalambides) sits in on the title track, lacing his acid and opal guitar tones around the song’s second half, adding to the album’s progressive air.]

I really dig this song, look forward to delving into the album and hope you do too (more liner notes below and the amazing lyrics are available on Alien Eyelid's Bandcamp).

-Robb Donker Curtius  

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM 

https://open.spotify.com/artist/75GJnidAzq7t14Vv8Fv1Y9

https://www.instagram.com/alieneyelid/

https://linktr.ee/Alieneyelid

https://alieneyelid.bandcamp.com/album/vinegar-hill

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094235000930

While many of their contemporaries chase the winds of Cosmic Americana, Houston’s Alien Eyelid have always been a bit more mercurial in their associations. Sure, the band’s found themselves slipping through the arms of Canyon Country at some point, Gene and Graham in the grooves, but their dial’s always been a bit more tuned toward classic sounds. More than a few songs have been rolled in the dust and rust of 80s airwaves, finding a freedom in jukebox gems that have ingrained themselves into the DNA of their songwriting over time. They absorb the kind of subliminal seep that comes from living in the parched and packed Texas urban arena; catching choruses from car windows and the tinny transmissions of shop speakers, finding inspiration wafting from the boombox at the end of the kitchen counter.

Just like Houston itself, the band are outsiders, even in an outsider’s game. They embrace and embody Houston and its place outside the usual musical boundaries. Tour routes rope around the city, stretched out to the college crowds in Austin or the more enticing numbers in Dallas. Houston’s left to Houston, and Alien Eyelid have traced every crack of its pavement. They’ve condensed themselves from its hazy aura. Isolation’s not all bad, though. Sometimes, away from the crowded stage something pure finds its way into being. Expectations don’t press down so hard and fads tend to get carried off in the crosswinds. In that environment, the band began work on their third album, Vinegar Hill, a record that’s scarred by the soul of country. Yet, it feels just as indebted to an unlikely air of prog and folk, with songwriter Tyler Morris finding fusion between the stark loneliness of Pearls Before Swine, King Crimson, and the desolation of desert towns baked in heat and hopelessness.

The band’s swing towards a more progressive sound finds them embracing a more communal approach. Morris’s songwriting builds the backbone of Vinegar Hill, but Brett Taylor, Will Adams, Justin Terrell and new addition Mlee Marie Mains all help to carve the album into shape. Mains, a Houstonstudio regular who’d already been in the band’s circle, joins the band full time for Vinegar Hill. Her sax could be found streaking through a couple of tracks on Bronze Star, but here she becomes an integral part of the group, adding keys, sax, flute, harmonica, and even singing lead vocals on “Petition.” Elsewhere, “Blue” also finds Morris away from the mic, with Taylor taking on the lead. The ensemble approach enriches the band’s already magnetic charms, but the band’s expansion isn’t only internal. South Texas legend Tom Carter (Charalambides) sits in on the title track, lacing his acid and opal guitar tones around the song’s second half, adding to the album’s progressive air.

Even as a musical vacuum serves to foster a sense of ingenuity, the weight of isolation and loneliness can lead to coping. Themes of addiction and loss populate Vinegar Hill, tracking the tears spilled as friends are touched by Fentanyl and frustration. Petty crimes and bar regular ruminations butt up against more somber explorations of mortality and the measurements of worth. As to the latter, time and again, Alien Eyelid have proven themselves well beyond bar band background for tipsy conversations. On Vinegar Hill, they reassert their place slung between the scars of Blaze, Townes and Jim Sullivan, while mingling just as easy with the late Autumn laments of Bill Fay, Pentangle, or Roy Harper. The band’s last album found them pushing out of country’s pocket, but on Vinegar Hill, they’ve subverted the genre and expectations. The rest may have gone cosmic, but for their latest, Alien Eyelid have touched something truly transcendent.

Alien Eyelid, Houston, indie rock, psychedelic rock, abstract rock, art rock, jangle pop, garden rock, deep storytelling, bloodletting, third album "Vinegar Hill", single "Vinegar Hill", iterations of 70's folk rock,