After five years of silence since 2024’s Mannequin Deposit, the Midwest gothic post-punk band The House Flies return with “Sweet Foxhound,” a song that slinks that line between beauty and anxiety. The new single represents a stirring new chapter for the band, transforming their signature gloom-drenched sound into something even more striking and direct.
“Sweet Foxhound” feels like a restless night drive through fog. Sprawling, spectral guitars gently envelop a pulsating bassline while the rhythm section moves with an urgency that can only be described as restless. The frontman Alex Riggen’s eerie, melodic vocals drift in like a ghost beyond the headlights, touching, tuneful, and just creepy enough that you never quite know exactly where he is. The production is dense but thoughtful, each echo and rattle adding to the song’s pressure.
Standout Burnie Eckardt of Dynoride makes his debut appearance as the second guitarist for The House Flies, nudging their already layered sound a shade deeper. First written during the Mannequin Deposit sessions and honed over months of concerts, “Sweet Foxhound” seems at once a reflection and a rebirth, a past-tense bridge to some darker horizon.
As a standalone cut, it works, but it also points the way. House Flies are building their next full-length record, and word on the street is it’s going to be longer, heavier, and more immersive. If “Sweet Foxhound” is the opening murmur of that next chapter, it’s apparent the band’s gothic pulse has never sounded more alive, urgent, melodic, and gorgeously disquieting.