“I’m conscious of the positive effect that our darker music has had on people,” Jonathan Horstmann told the Chronicle in a 2023 cover story. The previous year’s still-fresh debut EP Wellness prompted a whirlwind of press, pomp, and promotion for Austin trio Urban Heat. This summer’s full-length bow The Tower delivered on all that promise. New Wave electro-goth and synth soul, the album quivers with millennial jitters even as Horstmann’s thick, rich, omniscient intonation soothes our red-hot unease. Bassist Paxel Foley and instrumental backbone Kevin Naquin complete the triumvirate at ATX’s leather-n-mascara HQ with support from Art Versus Industry and Night Ritualz. – Raoul Hernandez
