Narrow Head’s new album title Moments of Clarity came to vocalist/guitarist Jacob Duarte in an ambient, almost haunting fashion after the release of Narrow Head’s previous record, 12th House Rock, were marked by a series of personal losses and spiritual trials. Throughout the writing process of this most recent record, the turn of phrase “moments of clarity” appeared to materialize wherever Duarte looked in an almost serendipitous fashion. The notion of moments clarity seemed to coalesce as if it were a totem to the desire to keep on living, a counterweight to the self-inflected damage and depravity that defined much of 12th House Rock’s lyrics. “The phrase created a space for me to reflect upon my own life,” Duarte admits, “since our last record I’ve had plenty of moments of realization like that… when you experience friends dying, you’re forced to see life a little differently.”

Moments of Clarity sees its release on Run For Cover Records on vinyl, CD and all digital streaming platforms. To pre-order, go here + pre-save, go here. Just after a successful, headlining Fall North American run, Narrow Head are thrilled to announce they’ll be back on the road in February 2023 with White Reaper.

Narrow Head fans will undoubtedly still recognize the band’s signature marriage of brutality and grace, and many of the core themes of desolation, loss, and self-medication that the band established on their prior records Satisfaction (2016) and 12th House Rock (2020) continue to haunt the edges of Moments of Clarity. All the same, Moments rises above the darkness with a sense of elegant repose. While not exactly optimistic in outlook, these songs simmer with a certain life affirming desire, a burning passion to transcend pure cynicism and self-destruction, if only for even a few seconds.

Duarte credits the presence of Sonny DiPerri (Diiv, Protomartyr, My Bloody Valentine), who recorded, mixed, and produced the record, with elevating Narrow Head’s sound. Prior to recording, the band spent a week with DiPerri at a house in Sherman, TX, reworking and refining the record with a sense of surgical intent, sculpting each melody and hook until it had reached its logical conclusion. The band then relocated with DiPerri to Jeff Friedl’s (Devo, A Perfect Circle) home-studio in Los Angeles, where they completed the tracking of the record under the reprieve of an uncharacteristically mild Californian late-summer.

The addition of Kora Puckett (Solo, Bugg, Sheer Mag), who was promoted from touring guitarist to permanent band member, further bolstered the writing process, expanding the band’s traditional songwriting trio of Duarte, guitarist William Menjivar, and drummer Carson Wilcox and pushing the songs towards a broader minded, arrangement-by-committee register. An ecstatic sense of group cohesion shines through in each individual performance. The songs on Moments lurch and pulse with a sense of breathless, single-minded determination, reflecting the fine-tuned tightness of a band coming off of a heavy touring cycle that saw them play alongside Quicksand, Turnstile, Gatecreeper, Chubby and the Gang, Young Guv, and Fury. The band eschews any sort of overt reliance upon studio effects in order to convey dynamic shifts, leaning instead upon the strength of the songwriting itself, as well as their intimate familiarities with one another as musicians, to carry the momentum of each track directly.

Narrow Head
Moments of Clarity
Track Listing
Run For Cover Records

1- The Real
2 – Moments of Clarity
3 – Sunday
4 – Trepanation
5 – Breakup Song
6 – Fine Day
7 – Caroline
8 – The World
9 – Gearhead
10 – Flesh & Solitude
11 – The Comedown
12 – Soft To Touch

Narrow Head 2023 Tour Dates

Feb 07: Lexington, KY – The Burl ~
Feb 09: Indianapolis, IN – The Hi-Fi ~
Feb 10: Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall ~
Feb 11: St. Louis, MO – Delmar Hall ~
Feb 13: Houston, TX – Warehouse Live Studio ~
Feb 14: Austin, TX – Scoot Inn ~
Feb 15: Dallas, TX – Granada Theater ~
Feb 17: Albuquerque, NM – Launchpad ~
Feb 18: Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom ~
Feb 19: San Diego, CA – Music Box ~
Feb 21: Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda Theatre ~
Feb 22: San Francisco, CA – August Hall ~
Feb 24: Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theatre ~
Feb 25: Seattle, WA – The Crocodile ~
Feb 26: Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theatre ~

~ w/ White Reaper, Taipei Houston

Pre Order Moments of Clarity by Narrow Head HERE