HOT MILK have released their fourth single “BREATHING UNDERWATER” which precedes their debut album “A CALL THE VOID” out 25th August 2023. BREATHING UNDERWATER, finds HOT MILK at their most vulnerable, swapping typical cocksure swagger for open-hearted honesty. A track co-vocalist, Han Mee describes as sounding “like when you break your own heart. To feel like you’re drowning, gasping for air, frustrated and alone. This song embodies the emotion and spirit of our current headspace, and we feel it may be the most important song we’ve ever pulled from the universe. This is Hot Milk’s true heart. Hot Milk is an emotion.”
Stirring vocal harmonies, heartening string sections and effortless key changes find comfort in melodic and emotive balladeering and songcraft to create an impassioned sonic call to arms with Mee stating that “we needed to write this song as a cry to the outside world. Breathing Underwater is the beating heart and defining song off our debut album, it was written first and set off a chain reaction that moulded the feeling of A CALL TO THE VOID.”
For some, it might feel like a long time coming but Hot Milk always knew that when the time came to make their debut album, they had to be ready for it. It will be their loudest statement yet of who they are and what they stand for, an opportunity to show the world what they are made of.
Tracks on the debut album walk on a tightrope between the humorous and the serious, brimming with what might be called positive nihilism. They’re not so much finding the light in the dark as they are laughing because if they don’t, they’ll cry.
The first single ‘HORROR SHOW’, boisterously ushered in a new era of Hot Milk, one that is bolder, brasher, and more impactful than ever before. Premiering on Radio 1’s FUTURE ARTIST show Jack Saunders commented that “The odds are pitted against this band, it’s not often a traditional emo breaks through, but Hot Milk have fought the whole entire way to make their mark, find their way into your top tens, become a favourite for you, and Horror Show’s the best yet.”
The band have blossomed over the course of three self-produced EPs, this constant stream of releases has meant that Hot Milkwere never away from the spotlight – or the stages they call home. Their rise kept accelerating, taking them to stadium support slots with Foo Fighters, the main stages of some of the best festivals Globally, an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel in the US to tours with bands like Pale Waves and their own headline sold-out shows to over 50 million streams of the EPs alone. Crucially, however, they were giving themselves space to find themselves as artists.
The band recorded the album between Manchester, Los Angeles and Stockholm with the bands very own Jim Shaw at the Producing helm for the majority of the record, much like all previous releases. An element that has become so important to the band and allowing them to control just exactly what they want to be as artists.
A CALL TO THE VOID is the English translation of the French phrase l’appel du vide, referring to the brain’s trick of spotting opportunities to die. It’s the eerie jolt that is felt when you stand waiting for a train and the thought that you could jump, and end your life in a heartbeat, intrudes in your head. It’s that brief moment of being reminded of the fragility of existence.
The most important thing for the band, however, is that these songs are written to scream from the speakers of the stage, and for their refrains to be screamed back at them by the adoring, tight-knit community they’ve built. “Live is where I’m happiest, live is where it’s home,” says Han. “We wrote songs with the intention of people going off, making you feel good, opening the pit up, letting go, crying, getting on your mate’s shoulders. It’s church for us.”
