Austin duo Almost Heaven are unleashed and unstoppable on their sweaty debut EP ‘RAW CRANIUM,’ a feverish indie-dance eruption where vulnerability meets immersion and the dancefloor becomes a space for release, connection, and pure kinetic joy.

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Stream: “fever trying to blow” – Almost Heaven

Burnout has a breaking point.

There’s a moment – after the long week, the swallowed frustration, the endless clock-punching – when the body demands release.

Almost Heaven’s “fever trying to blow” is all about that moment – about the ache to get out of your own skin, about clawing back joy through sweat, bass, and reckless abandon. This isn’t just a party song – it’s a pressure valve. And in a culture that runs on exhaustion, that release feels urgent.

Before a single lyric fully lands, the band builds the heat of the fever. An intoxicating bassline pulses in first – thick, hypnotic, almost narcotic – while Jaelyn Valero’s drums snap into place with warehouse-ready insistence. There’s no ornamental build, no dramatic swell; just groove and intention. In less than thirty seconds, Almost Heaven conjure a space – humid, electric, bodies pressing toward the stage. By the time the voice cuts through, the world already exists.

“I’ve had a long week at work… I deserve this,” Stefan Barraza half-rants, half-confesses in the opening verse. There’s no poetic pretense, no metaphor to decode. Just blunt honesty. The craving to “get out of my body.” The need to feel the pulse. The need to let loose. What follows is not escapism – it’s a full-body exorcism.

No, no, no, no, no build up for this one
No build, look we just need, we just
We just need all the girls who dance
And all the boys who dance to the front please
Yeah, and and all of yer drugs
You could just leave all of yer drugs with us

Okay look I, I’ve had a long week
I’ve had a long week at work
Okay, I deserve this
Alright, I’ve been looking forward to this
Alright
I worked, I worked all week for this honey
I want to let loose
I want to, I’m trying to,
I need to get out of my body

An undeniable highlight off Almost Heaven’s debut EP RAW CRANIUM (released January 30 via their newly formed Raw Cranium Records), “fever trying to blow” captures the Austin duo at their most feral and fully realized. Comprised of West Texas native Stefan Barraza and drummer Jaelyn Valero – a kinetic presence behind the kit who’s sharpened her instincts touring in other projects – Almost Heaven have emerged over the past few years with fire and fury.

What began as Barraza’s solo production project in El Paso became something bigger when Valero came on board: A hyper-stylized, high-voltage two-piece built equally on sweat-soaked performance and deliberate aesthetic.

From early singles like “hypnoxia” and “oscillation” to their club- and warehouse-ready live sets, they’ve carved out a lane that fuses post-punk bite, indie dance propulsion, and electronic chaos into something both nostalgic and forward-facing.

Almost Heaven themselves don’t shy away from the simplicity of that instinct. “We came, we saw, and we partied,” they say of themselves. It’s tongue-in-cheek, sure – but it’s also mission statement. The party, for them, is not surface-level spectacle; it’s communion. It’s catharsis. It’s collision.

And that clash comes to life on “fever trying to blow.” Born from a rare stretch of not making music – a long, exhausting week that left Barraza restless – the track began with a bassline, some leftover drums from Jaelyn Valero, a cowbell, and a spontaneous rant. It was fast. It was instinctive. It was necessary.

Owww! Stop
My fever’s trying to blow
My fever’s trying to blow
My fever’s trying to blow,
let the party shake down
My fever’s trying to blow
My fever’s trying to blow
My fever’s trying to blow,
let the party shake down

“The funny thing about that song is it’s actually way more autobiographical than people maybe think,” Barraza tells Atwood Magazine. “I literally had a really long and exhausting week at work, and found myself at the end of it in the rare position of having not been able to make any music for a couple of days. When the moment came where I finally found myself in front of my laptop, I was really craving a sense of release. It started with that bassline and some drums Jaelyn had recorded in a previous session for another song.”

“I added some cowbell, then all of a sudden I started ranting out loud over this groove. I thought it was funny and it was making me laugh, so I hit record and ran with it. It was a super-fast process. The song really made itself honestly and gratefully so, because that’s exactly what I needed at that moment. I sent it to Jaelyn that night, and we both couldn’t stop playing it.”

Sonically, “fever trying to blow” struts. The beat doesn’t build, so much as it kicks the door open. Thumping drums and a pulsing groove drive forward with an almost cocky force, recalling early bloghouse chaos and the electropunk bite of 3OH!3 without feeling derivative. This is bolder, dirtier, more self-aware and less defined. Valero’s drumming is tight and muscular; Barraza’s vocal delivery is half sermon, half dare. “My fever’s trying to blow / Let the party shake down” is both hook and mantra – repetition not as laziness, but as propulsion.

If forced to define their sound, they call it “bloghouse revival” – but even that feels too neat for a band that thrives on contradiction.

“We’re both kind of all over the place when it comes to our musical taste,” they explain. “Some days we wear all black, other days we’ve got some silver shoes on. It all boils down to however we’re feeling that day, and it’s the same for our process when making music.” That looseness is embedded in the DNA of this track – it feels reckless, but it’s intentional; chaotic, but curated.

The genius of the music is its relentlessness. There is no breath between desire and action. “Tonight we know no bounds… tonight is a rock n’ roll cliché,” Barraza declares, aware of the trope and leaning into it anyway. Sweat, pulse, skin, the “taste of the other side” – it’s seduction, yes, but also reclamation. A reminder that the body is not just something that works; it is something that feels.

That balance – intimacy on one hand, enveloping sound on the other – is central to how Almost Heaven operate. “With vulnerability it takes an initial focus within,” Jaelyn Valero says, “whereas immersion is about going beyond yourself and your world to connect with others.” The danger, she notes, is trying to do both at once – but when it clicks, “it creates beautiful moments that make everyone in the room feel like they got to witness a unique experience for themselves.” “fever trying to blow” lives exactly in that intersection: deeply personal in origin, explosively communal in execution.

Yeah, that’s right
Tonight we know no bounds
Alright, tonight
Tonight is a rock n’ roll cliche
I want to feel the pulse
I want the sweat right off yer skin
Yeah, tonight
Tonight, I want a taste of the other side

For Almost Heaven, RAW CRANIUM marks so much more than a debut EP.

It signals the launch of their independent imprint, Raw Cranium Records, and the beginning of a larger creative ecosystem they’re actively building. The project glues together vulnerability and immersion – confession through storytelling, connection through production and performance. World-building is central to their ethos, and right now, that world is loud, brash, glittering, and unapologetically alive.

“Being our first EP as a unit, the title ‘RAW CRANIUM’ signifies both the emergence of Raw Cranium Records as an entity, as well as its connection and overlap with Almost Heaven,” they explain. “We’re excited to share it and invite people into the world of RAW CRANIUM.”

That world, at least here, looks like sweat-slick floors, strobe lights, and a room full of strangers moving like they’ve known each other forever.

“fever trying to blow” feels like the ignition point of that world.

It’s the moment the disco ball starts spinning, the moment the lights drop, the moment exhaustion turns into electricity.

Almost Heaven aren’t just throwing a party – they’re constructing a far greater, and all are welcome to join. “We hope they dance, we hope they cry, we hope they kiss someone they love while listening to it.” The specifics don’t matter, they insist – what matters is that a connection is formed. “Because of that we are now innately connected to them. That’s the part that feels special.”

This isn’t a slow burn; it’s a temperature spike. “fever trying to blow” surges, sweats, spreads. It turns burnout into combustion and restlessness into rhythm, until the only cure is pure, physical, kinetic movement. Almost Heaven don’t just raise the heat – they break the thermometer. And once that fever catches, there’s no cooling off; only letting it run wild.

Once it hits, it consumes – and there’s no coming down.

Almost Heaven recently sat down with Atwood Magazine to talk about the raw release behind “fever trying to blow,” the world they’re building with RAW CRANIUM, and what it means to invite listeners inside their universe. Read our conversation below – and step onto the dancefloor and under the disco ball with this intoxicating duo.

Woo! Stop
My fever’s trying to blow
My fever’s trying to blow
My fever’s trying to blow,
let the party shake down
My fever’s trying to blow
My fever’s trying to blow
My fever’s trying to blow,
let the party shake down

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:: stream/purchase RAW CRANIUM here ::

:: connect with Almost Heaven here ::

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A CONVERSATION WITH ALMOST HEAVEN

Almost Heaven: We came, we saw, and we partied.

Almost Heaven: We’re both kind of all over the place when it comes to our musical taste and taste in general. As much as we both have a really focused and curated “mood board,” there’s simultaneously a wide range of influences across the table so that tends to inevitably come into play when making music. This can make it a bit hard to define the end result of whatever we create because at times it can feel like we’re just boxing ourselves in or something by doing so. Some days we wear all black, other days we’ve got some silver shoes on. It all boils down to however we’re feeling that day and it’s the same for our process when making music. With a hypothetical gun to our head though…we like ‘bloghouse revival’ if we had to define it.

Almost Heaven: Being our first EP as a unit, the title ‘RAW CRANIUM’ signifies both the emergence of our independent label, ‘Raw Cranium Records’, as an entity, as well as its connection and overlap with Almost Heaven. It really feels like more than just music that we’re putting out right now, but like we’re also initiating a big shift in our creative ecosystem. We’re excited to share it and invite people into the world of RAW CRANIUM.

With the music we create, we try to glue together two extremes in our creative world, vulnerability through storytelling and immersion with our production and performance. With every songwriting experience, we have to be able to close our eyes while listening and see the song exist in this way.

We’re always talking about world building, and right now, this is the beginning stages of what will be the world of Raw Cranium.

Stefan Barraza: Thanks, we love playing that one live. Especially with people starting to pick up on the dance now, it really makes for a fun moment and a fun room to be in.

The funny thing about that song is it’s actually way more autobiographical than people maybe think. I literally had a really long and exhausting week at work and found myself at the end of it in the rare position of having not been able to make any music for a couple of days. When the moment came where I finally found myself in front of my laptop, I was really craving a sense of release. It started with that bassline and some drums Jaelyn had recorded in a previous session for another song. Added some cowbell and then all of a sudden I started ranting out loud over this groove. I thought it was funny and it was making me laugh, so I hit record and ran with it. It was a super fast process. The song really made itself honestly – and gratefully so, because that’s exactly what I needed at that moment. I sent it to Jaelyn that night an we both couldn’t stop playing it.

Jaelyn Valero: For us, it was the missing piece to the EP that we didn’t know existed. It feels like a continued evolution of how we collaborate with each other and connect with our listeners. Plus, it just has hella swag to be honest.

For me it resonates so much because it feels inspired by a lot of our major influences, but still exists in a way that really fits in with the more modern music we are listening to.

Stefan Barraza: For me, I’m always looking for any excuse to turn into a robot so my love for the song really only grew from there. I also really love how Jaelyn’s the star of the show on this one vocally. More Jaelyn vocals, please! And more vocoder.

Almost Heaven: Emotionally, this song touches on that natural “push & pull” dynamic that comes with every relationship. With people and with life in general there are always going to be “ups & downs” and “back & forths,” and it might sound a bit cliché, but if we stick together anything can be overcome.

Logically and sonically, this song was an attempt at putting a modern twist on a really deep-rooted sense of nostalgia…how do we take a hot dog and prepare it in a way that makes someone feel like, for some reason, it’s the first time they’re having one while they eat it. Hot dogs… the song’s about hot dogs.

Jaelyn Valero: I definitely think so, with vulnerability it takes an initial focus within, and must be built from the ground up with yourself, whereas immersion is the opposite – it’s about going beyond yourself and your world to connect with others. I think trying to accomplish both at the same time can be a dangerous game, but if you do it right it creates beautiful moments that make everyone in the room feel like they got to witness a unique experience for themselves every time you play a show.

We coalesce the two through our songwriting. We make a song drawing from vulnerable parts of ourselves, and connect with the listener through our production styles – thinking about how the music will physically move the people that watch our shows.

Almost Heaven: We hope listeners feel like they’re a part of an exciting moment happening in this very formative chapter of our careers. We hope they dance, we hope they cry, we hope they kiss someone they love while listening to it. Whatever it is that these songs call for them to do, the specifics of it don’t particularly matter to us, what matters to us is the fact that they’ve connected to something we made, and because of that we are now innately connected to them. That’s the part that feels special.

That’s why we put such an emphasis on world building, because a lot of people can fit inside of a world, you know what I mean? And there’s something to be said about curating a space that’s not only big enough to fit ‘x amount’ of people in it, but one that also allows those people the freedom and the confidence to feel safe being 100% themselves… and our world just so happens to be a disco ball, so that’s pretty sick too.

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:: stream/purchase RAW CRANIUM here ::

:: connect with Almost Heaven here ::

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Stream: “fever trying to blow” – Almost Heaven

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 © Kylie Bly

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