Held are back, and it has been a long wait. Oakland's Daniel Phounsavan started this project as a solo thing back in 2015, well before every basement band in the country started chasing that Deftones-meets-Hum heavy shoegaze sound. He was early. That matters.
After a 2016 demo and a 2019 self-titled EP, Held went dark for seven years, and now they return with a new record called Star Falling. The lead track "Standby" is a proper stunner: crushing low end, guitars that swirl and bruise, a melody buried in all that gorgeous weight.
The heavy shoegaze boom is real right now, and a million acts are working this territory. Some of them are huge. But Held were shaping this stuff when almost nobody was checking for it, which gives Phounsavan a claim most of these newer bands cannot touch.
Seven years is a long time to sit with an idea. "Standby" sounds worth every day of it.