Eigenface Share Self-Titled Debut Album + Video For 'Grief Is F*cking Strange'

Based between Aotearoa and NYC, Eigenface is the genre-warping "post-pop" songwriting project of Penelope Esplin (French for Rabbits, Lake South, Grawlixes), Elliot Vaughan (Moth Quartet, CNZ/NZSM Composer in Residence 2024) and Logan Valentine (Moon Lander). Named after a facial recognition technical term (in case you're curious), the trio have lit up our SRN airwaves with three chart-topping lead singles to their self-titled debut album, which is out today via Home Alone Records, in sync with the first date of their nationwide release tour.

Sparked by "an impromptu challenge to write and perform on each other's work", there's a generosity of ideas expressed, scrambled around and flipped inside out on Eigenface. The trio's self-recorded twelve track collection spans oceanic dream-pop, pastoral folk, textural electronica and jittery punk-funk, sometimes all in the same song — an ever-morphing backdrop for their poetical, often disarmingly personal lyricism.

Album opener and new single 'Grief Is Fucking Strange' encapsulates Eigenface's experimental spirit, travelling from earnest balladry to punchy electro-funk, feet kept grounded by the heaviness of their song's core message. Making like many Tāmaki Makaurau dwellers since the CRL finally opened, Vaughan hops on a train to journey from leafy suburbia to the urban concrete jungle, hauling an unwieldy package in the accompanying clip.

Their new record now out in the world, Eigenface are embarking on a six date tour with special guest Michaela Tempers for all shows, starting this weekend at Space Academy in Ōtautahi and Pearl Diver in Ōtepoti. If you wait a few hours to snag the album's digital edition, all funds will go directly to the trio courtesy of the Bandcamp Fridays initiative...

"I lost my mother quite quickly in 2020, my first time experiencing a grief like that. Grief Is Fucking Strange showed up a few years later, as I was just starting to gain some perspective on my own state of mourning. As there have been other deaths in my orbit since, I have found the song a useful mantra to extend a little grace to myself, and to others bereaved." - Elliot Vaughan

Eigenface Album Release Tour
with special guest Michaela Tempers

Friday 2nd October – Space Academy, Christchurch
Saturday 3rd October – Pearl Diver, Dunedin
Friday 6th November – Vogelmorn, Wellington
Saturday 7th November – Porridge Watson, Whanganui
Thursday 12th November – Big Fan, Auckland
Friday 13th November – Last Place, Hamilton

Tickets on sale HERE via UTR

'Eigenface' is out today on major streaming platforms via Home Alone Records.