NOLA's Sleep Habits shares new sparse, live recorded EP 'Mourning Doves'
“This is a gorgeous, soft, and intimate EP, and I patiently await more
of Howard’s work in this vein.”
- ANTIGRAVITY MAGAZINE
“With a knack for twangy instrumentation and a heart for genuine connection, Sleep Habits is both an underground spearhead and collective curator of folk and alternative music.”
- THE UGLY HUG
New Orleans musician Sleep Habits, the moniker of Alan Howard, is excited to share his new reflective EP, Mourning Doves, via NOLA’s DIY scenemaker Kiln Recordings. Featuring the lead single “Antique Mall,” the EP is a melancholic folk and twangy collection of tracks with hazy, mellow acoustics, slow and daydreamy instrumentation, and sad, reflective lyrics.
"The original idea for this EP was inspired by the album ‘Killers and Stars’ by Patterson Hood. Specifically the way that album was recorded. I wanted to try evoking a similar sense of space to those recordings,” Howard said about Mourning Doves. “Hoping to record songs that hadn’t found a home on any official release, I reached out to my friend Tyler Scurlock about doing live recordings in his living room. ‘Mourning Doves’ was recorded as a live take with Tyler, Noa Jamir, Quinn Bankston, and myself with special care being taken to capture the sound of the space we were in (Mac’s fiddle was overdubbed later). This recording set the tone for the EP and the rest of the songs were recorded with that special sense of space in mind.”
LISTEN TO MOURNING DOVES
A collection of five songs, Sleep Habits' newest EP is a warm and nostalgic reflection of memories and relationships. The first look at the EP came with “Antique Mall,” a mellow and synth-focused track reflecting the tendency to treasure and archive memories, clinging to conceptions of the past even as life continues to shift. The track featured a music video with a collection of warm, vintage visuals that reflect the liminal space people often traverse when reflecting back on memories and their sense of identity. Howard is soft and delicate on the EP with the sentimental track “Hold Your Name,” the piano-guided instrument-only “Helen’s House,” the in-depth story of “Space Between,” and the melancholic and slow title track “Mourning Doves.”
WATCH THE OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO FOR “ANTIQUE MALL”
Sleep Habits has been an active project within the New Orleans music scene for several years. Howard’s previous releases include the 2023 EP, Trinkets and Horses, in collaboration with Mariah Houston and the 2022 solo album Ouchie!. Sleep Habits’ music dwells in the space between the organic sounds of acoustic DIY and experimental shoegaze, often resulting in collaboration. Mourning Doves was largely recorded live in the living room of Howard’s friend, Tyler Scurlock. In recording the EP through these live takes alongside Scurlock, Noa Jamir and Quinn Bankston, Mourning Doves aptly captures both the nuanced dynamism of live production and the sound of the space itself.
ABOUT SLEEP HABITS:
Growing up in Louisiana, Alan Howard has become one with his New Orleans-based project Sleep Habits. Having started to write and record music on a hand-me-down korg D1600mkII, the music that has since come out of Sleep Habits HQ is a moment of clarity in a constantly moving world. Having shifted and developed sounds that have grown with him, Howard has always been focused on creating a sense of place, both timeless and interchangeable as his universal stories have unfolded over driven soundscapes, slowcore intimacies and alt-country daydreams.
Having collaborated with beloved indie artists such as Mariah Houston (Trinkets and Horses), Wesley Wollfe (Bedridden), Noa Jamir, Quinn Pilgrim and hemlock, the latter who has had an appearance on every Sleep Habits project, community has become not just a point of relation, but Howard’s knack for collaboration and comradery is what defines the importance of making music in his own world. Although writing music is primarily a solo endeavor, recording has become an invitation for friends of Sleep Habits which has always been open to whatever sound or energy others bring to the song.
Mourning Doves, the new EP from Sleep Habits, is a play on the open spaces that surround Howard as he lives out his day-to-day. Putting more focus on experimenting with new recording techniques, each track brings an immediacy to the universal stories being told.
Mourning Doves is a collection of older songs kept in his back pocket as life changed around him, allowing the time to define what these open spaces are to him and the possibilities of what they can be filled with.
ABOUT KILN RECORDINGS:
Kiln Recordings is a New Orleans tastemaking label representative of a community of songwriters who are doggedly DIY. Founded in 2022, we are dedicated to supporting independent artists by making music and merchandise more accessible to fans.