The Heavenly States Share "My Sloop" Single + Video | New Single Out 9/3 via LBM Recordings
Read Mundane Mag, Americana Highways,
Psychedelic Baby Mag and Vents Features
New Single Out Now via LBM Recordings
Photo Credit: Larry RatnerLISTEN/WATCH & SHARE: The Heavenly States - "My Sloop"
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LISTEN/WATCH & SHARE: The Heavenly States - "Fifth of July"
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LISTEN/WATCH & SHARE: The Heavenly States - "Little Dominoes"
Stream | Watch PRAISE FOR THE HEAVENLY STATES
"Combining the scruffy shocks of guitar and dyspeptic swagger of pre-grunge rockers like Agitpop and Pavement with a layered, late-’90s indie-pop aesthetic best associated with Dave Fridmann, Bay Area quartet the Heavenly States find an appealing balance"
-Alternative Press
"one of America’s fearless music outfits, flying the flag for self-determination and intelligent, energetic rock ‘n’ roll."
-KUTX
"The Heavenly States repeatedly hint at things you’re familiar with, yet always sound distinctly themselves."
-Pop Matters
"Sometimes gentle, often furious, always elemental. Their music reads like coded letters from the margins, filled with bruised idealism, political static, and aching, melodic persistence."
-Psychedelic Baby Mag
"a punk-inflected take on '80s college rock melody"
-KEXP
"It’s this balance—mythic in scope, intimate in execution—that has made The Heavenly States one of America’s most fearless underground bands for over two decades."
-Mundane Mag
A Bay Area fixture and cult favorite since the early 2000s, The Heavenly States formed in Oakland in 2002. In 2010, the band relocated to Austin, TX, with members now split between Austin and Atlanta. Last month, the beloved alt-rock outfit returned with timely new single, “Fifth of July,” via LBM Recordings.
Today, the band shares “My Sloop,” a haunting and melancholy ballad that unravels into a dissonant, defiant cry with a powerful message. Where “Fifth of July” leaned into New Wave urgency, “My Sloop” trades in those shoes for something more expansive and theatrical — a near-classical piece that builds over six minutes. Within it are echoes of dirge, Russian classical music, lounge, and even hints of musical theater à la Bernstein. The song explores what feels like a reckoning: supernatural beings judging human failure from afar, wrestling with the cost of detachment.
On the idea behind the track the band shares, "Let us insist on the responsibility of each human to hold it down for all the living. The easier task would be to walk off the set of the parodic “Anthropocene”— such a fashionable thing to do – to think that to go on strike as a human is an honorable choice. Isn’t it rather a pretense to invulnerability though? Imagine supernatural beings, surrogates for nature, sitting in judgment, in the collateral damage of what humans have wrought. Humans (even the ones pretending to be post-human) shall not be permitted to walk off the job and settle down to a feast of caviar and video games. The human is deeply indebted. And worse, we are fully capable of paying our debt, yet choose not to. Only the worst parts of the human are bearing fruit – the best in us waits, fading in sun-shocked fields. The faeries have had enough. This is a song from outside us, about us, trying to get free of us."
Led by core songwriters Genevieve Gagon (keys, violin, vocals) and Ted Nesseth (guitar, vocals), the group is joined by a powerhouse roster of Austin talent: John Olrech and Erik Grostic on bass, and Danny Piccuirro and Jason Toll on drums. Genevieve and Ted first crossed paths with Erik years ago at a shared bill during Austin’s late punk and indie heyday, reconnecting during the COVID lockdown. From there, the band began piecing together new material in a DIY home studio — building gear from scratch, tracking parts across different rooms and neighborhoods, and leaning into creativity through limitation.
The resulting sound is deeply rooted in transition — a document of musicians who’ve witnessed Austin’s cultural transformation firsthand, before, during, and after its evolution.
Described by KUTX as “one of America’s fearless music outfits” and often compared to Pavement and The Replacements, The Heavenly States have maintained their sharp songwriting and distinctive sonic identity across three acclaimed albums and two decades. Their 2011 track “Berlin Wall” (from Oui Camera Oui) was named an NPR All Songs Considered favorite and earned praise from Consequence of Sound, Exclaim!, and a live performance slot at The Kennedy Center.
The Heavenly States captures the difficulties and madness of American life without melancholy or nostalgia. They have always sung with many voices, maybe because they have two singer-songwriters onboard but maybe also because the singular “I” has proven inadequate to depict the autobiographical."My Sloop" is out September 3rd via LBM Recordings.
MY SLOOP
Single Art
THE HEAVENLY STATES BIO:
Joining core band members/songwriters Genevieve Gagon (keys, violin, voice) and Ted (Theodore) Nesseth (guitar, voice) on the EP are a cadre of some of Austin TX’s finest players: John Olrech and Erik Grostic (bass), and Danny Piccuirro and Jason Toll (drums). Genevieve and Ted had met Erik years ago at a shared show on tour in Austin’s late punk and indie days, and then wildly, at a bowling alley in Australia. During the covid lockdown in Austin, they sent tracks around with the idea that someday maybe they’d all be in a room together again to record. Early versions of the songs were pieced together in a makeshift home studio, and the band experimented with ways to communicate. They had to build the field as they were inventing the game – finding and building gear on a shoestring budget, discovering a way to keep things live and creative from separate rooms around town. When the lockdown started to let up, Ted and Genevieve invited a neighbor they met at lockdown street parties to sit in on bass – John Olrech. Soon after, John recruited his former bandmate Jason Toll to try out on drums, expanding the THS family. The limitations posed by the covid crisis inspired the band to develop new tools and procedures for recording. Working at home allowed them more time to think about how they wanted to present the new material, and this led to Ted tinkering with some of his existing gear and finally deciding he needed to build something altogether new. The new instrument-machine for live performance is coming soon to musicians and other presenters/creators.
Made during a transitional period, this is a record born of people who lived in Austin before, during and after its transformation. The city’s marks and scars on the songs tell of a larger shift, of things that were and are no more, with scenes howled by a pack of loners, then spied and made legend by a chorus of fierce faeries. In fact, THS brought back child singers Angus and Lucy from the 2015 album Hiss (track “Nevermind”), for a couple of songs to fill out the faerie chorus.
The Heavenly States formed in 2002 in Oakland, CA. Their history in the papers includes a misbegotten attempt to influence the course of war with a tour to Libya and Egypt in 2005 during Muammar Gaddafi’s regime and years of reviews and features from Newsweek to Rolling Stone to NPR (see their extensive PRESS KIT for more). They’ve performed live on radio KUT (Austin), KEXP (Seattle), The Current (Minneapolis), WXRT (Chicago), KFOG (San Francisco) and others. They’ve toured Australia, the US and Europe. They’ve played The Onion holiday party in San Francisco and music festivals (Sasquatch, Noise Pop). They have collaborated with artists and filmmakers to produce several videos including “Berlin Wall” which was featured in Rolling Stone. “Berlin Wall” the song was voted Favorite Song by Bob Boilen’s “All Songs Considered” staff in a blind poll. A video for “The Race” was chosen by Lincoln Mercury’s 2009 Grammy Artist campaign and aired during the Grammys, sneaking the indie band through the back door of that palace. They were also invited to play at the Kennedy Center (2012). Among their best moments was the collaboration with Bay Area film legend Ernie Fosselius (Hardware Wars, Porklips Now) who created puppets for the video “Car Wash.” Other video highlights include the animated “Pretty Life” and Bay Area production “My Friends” shot in the Bay Area and Mono Lake. They have worked with producers/engineers John Agnello, Bob Power, Bob Weston, Scott Mathews, Mike McCarthy, Bill Lefler, Colin Gagon, Paul Oldham, Bond Bergland, and Jeff Saltzman and toured/opened for many fine artists (Mike Watt/The Secondmen, Smog/Bill Callahan, Bonnie Prince Billy/Will Oldham, EZT, Spoon, X, The Minus 5, Portastatic, Eugene Mirman, Marc Maron, and others). A Bay Area fixture and favorite for years, they made Austin, TX home in 2010 and now reside in Austin and Atlanta.
THS started out on vinyl with Elephants From Ants (under the moniker Fluke Starbucker, a story in itself) followed by a split single as The Heavenly States with Coldplay and The Postal Service in 2003. Other releases include The Heavenly States s/t (2003), Beyond the Great Beyond (Australian single 2004), Black Comet (2005), King Epiphany/Monument (with hidden track, 2005), Delayer (2008), Little Drummer Boy (single, 2008), Oui Camera Oui (EP, 2011 feat. Britt Daniel of Spoon and Eugene Mirman), Hiss (vinyl-only, 2015). HISS is a triple LP with a custom embossed trifold snakeskin-inspired jacket and full-color printed interior. The jacket includes three full-color printed inner sleeves featuring photographs of five paintings by Genevieve Gagon, lyrics and candid photos. In 2025, the band released Hiss digitally for the first time in celebration of its 10-year anniversary.
Their new EP previews songs from an upcoming double album that captures a time of embattlement and disappointment along with blueprints for healing.
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