PREMIERE: Hallan ‘Yesterday (With Him)’.

Portsmouth newcomers Hallan take a stand against the mundane on new single ‘Yesterday (With Him).

PREMIERE | PHOTO BY TOM WESTWELL | WORDS BY KARL JOHNSON

If you missed out on Portsmouth newcomers Hallan and their debut single ‘Habit’ late last year, then you may want to pull your ear over here for their hard-hitting new single.

‘Yesterday (With Him)’ is the Pompey quartet’s rampant new single, it opens with a low slung bass rumble and guitars that cut like ice within the track’s slow-burning atmosphere. It feels instantly like the band’s natural hit, which seems strange to say at this stage in the band’s existence, but the patchwork social commentary and the biting vocal delivery hits hard. In the same crowd-rousing ways that Shame, The Rhythm Method or Hotel Lux ply their craft, Hallan hit that mark and hit it hard.

Vocalist Conor explains, “This song is for those people at the pub, with the nagging set of clubbers three tables down and for the uni students pretending not to hear their peers across the table discussing facts about their private life in minute detail. Many problems spring to mind when fixating on the expectations of youth. However, ‘Yesterday (With Him)’ highlights the tasks of crawling through day to day life and realizing that despite the scope of our existence, people still choose to discuss cheap television and the lives of “social influencers” over valuable human connection.”

Whether it’s lyrical pop culture references from The Vampire Diaries to Ru Paul’s Drag Race, Hallan explore their frustration with modern Britain through knife-edged guitar lines and growling bass grooves which provide a platform for the band’s sharp-witted social commentary. Hallan are brandishing a new baton for post-punk.

A London date on the horizon, fingers crossed.