Pressure Heaven Talks Existentialism, Visual Art and High-Energy Performances

With intoxicatingly powerful lyricism and hefty industrial-pop beats, Nashville-based band Pressure Heaven is bursting onto the scene in a way that’s about as exciting as a firework show on the Fourth of July. Pleaser sat down with Pressure Heaven to talk more about their breakout as a band, their creative processes and what the future holds for the band.

PHOTOS BY NIC FOX

Frontwoman Grace Hall and beat connoisseur Collin Thompson met while working part-time at Five Points Pizza in East Nashville. In between serving slices and taking orders, the duo talked in passing about their mutual interest in creating music. With Thompson as an MTSU graduate and Hall as a known visual artist with an urge to practice the art of lyricism, the duo talked often about playing around creatively in the studio. 

Coming from a visual background, writing music felt like a whole different ball game for Hall. She expressed her interest in writing as an outlet after experiencing a creative block with her visual art. As much as she loves both, the process feels a bit different for her. 

“I wanted to get my feelings out in a different way other than making art all the time, so I started writing a lot more. We started making music, and it was really fun. I felt like I was starting to get good at writing the more I did it. We started as a fun hang-out thing because we were all friends, but then we were like, well we might as well start a band,” Hall told Pleaser. “When I’m making visual art, it’s more of a stream-of-consciousness kind of thing. When I’m writing, it’s much more technical. I take my time to pick out the right lyrics, and it makes me think more.” 

When the two got together for the first time to create music, it was an instant click creatively. With Thompson’s experimental instrumentation and Hall’s expressive and eerie lyricism, Pressure Heaven fell into their laps in an almost fate-like way. In 2023, the band released their first single. “Knowing” is a heavy-synthesized bop that almost feels like running away from something haunting. The song also makes an appearance on their latest EP Head Start.

Since their start in 2023, Pressure Heaven is steadily rising at an impressively fast pace. They’re popping up on lineups and playing shows all around Nashville, opening for artists such as Pale Lungs and Twen at venues such as The Basement East and The Blue Room. It’s no surprise Pressure Heaven is continuously getting booked for shows considering just how entertaining their live performances are. Hall has a spiritous way of pulling in audience members, creating a performance that is almost as interesting visually as it is audibly. 

“Whenever I’m writing stuff, I try to envision what it’s going to be like during a live performance,” Thompson told Pleaser. “I’m visualizing what it’s going to look like and feel like for an audience.” 

PHOTO BY MATT MATHESON

According to Hall, Pressure Heaven feels like a universe. She writes to adhere to this other-worldly experience that follows a unique storyline. When performing live, Hall creates visuals with multiple television sets, dances interpretively and consistently weaves herself in and out of the audience, almost like breaking the fourth wall between her performance on stage and her connection with audience members. It’s a very immersive experience. 

“The songs are an inner monologue of how I’m feeling,” Hall told Pleaser. “Sometimes we’ll play around with concepts for songs, too. Collin will make the music, and then show me what he’s doing, and then I’ll make lyrics based on whatever the title is. For the most part, though, our songs are about existential feelings, emotions, dystopian worlds, politics and futurism. It’s like war and destruction within the world but also within myself. It’s finding the clarity within the chaos.”

When Hall sits down to write, she takes the time to create a cozy and comforting environment for inspiration, preferably surrounded by nature or in a candle-lit room. Hall finds inspiration in nature and writes a lot when driving, finding lyrical revelations in fast-paced movements. Movement tends to be a trend within the Pressure Heaven universe, as most of their photographs are based in movement, as well as their lyricism and cover art for many of their EPs and singles. 

“Spiral,” another Pressure Heaven single, dives into that movement's inspiration. The song almost feels like the dizziness of emotional distress or the vertigo felt after stumbling off a ride at a state fair. In the “Spiral” music video, Pressure Heaven plays around with this concept visually, featuring a discombobulated, intoxicating visual of blurred lights and fast movement on a carousel ride. 

Since their initial creation, Thompson and Hall have added drummer Lucas Bowers and visual artist Gardner Lee to the Pressure Heaven universe. The band is currently working on a full-length album, which Hall said should be set to release in Spring 2025.