New Orleans musician Sleep Habits, the moniker of Alan Howard, has shared his new single “Antique Mall,” which reflects on the tendency to treasure and archive memories, clinging to conceptions of the past even as life continues to shift. This release aims to make sense of that burden through a combination of hazy, mellow acoustics and focused synths, merging feelings of old and new to reach a point of understanding.
This is the lead single off his new EP, Mourning Doves, available May 10, 2025 via NOLA’s DIY scenemaker Kiln Recordings. The impending EP was heavily influenced by Killers and Stars by Patterson Hood, featuring live recordings and sparse reflections on the past.
“At the time I wrote this song, I was coming to terms with the fact that you can’t carry everything with you throughout your life,” Howard reflects on “Antique Mall.” “The physical space of the antique mall symbolizes that feeling. With that symbol as its base, the song explores allowing yourself to hold onto the reverence of memory and acknowledge how it has shaped you, while letting go of the idealistic sense of the ‘good ol’ days’.”
Also out now is the music video for “Antique Mall,” which features 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 encourages viewers to sift through the curious objects featured throughout the track using an “I Spy” list, creating the opportunity to viewers to engage or simply take in shots of the ephemeral mall landscape.
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.
