Tension, restraint, and a guitar line that won’t let go. Grander Things return with “No Time,” a slow burn that trades brute force for something quieter and stranger, and we are stoked to be premiering it, alongside its animated clip, ahead of Friday’s release.
A recurring guitar line coils through the song, moody and hypnotic, while Liz Clear‘s vocals have an intimacy that builds a haunting atmosphere, shadowed by backing vocals that drift in and out in a dreamy state. There’s a scandi-noir chill to its atmosphere, all stripped-back tension and quiet unravelling. It recalls St. Vincent at her most coiled and controlled, that same art-rock instinct for menace held just beneath the surface. The result pulses with the ache, distance, and dislocation of long-distance love, and it lingers long after the last note.
The spark came from a throwaway comment. During rehearsal, Liz mentioned being hypnotised by the groove of The Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now?”, and guitarist Brent Williams sat with that feeling a little longer, returning the next day with a pulsing, haunted riff. When it landed in Liz’s inbox, something lit up. The song took shape around a close friend’s long-distance relationship, tracing the swing between anticipation and reunion, and the ache of having to say goodbye all over again.
“There were moments when I was recording the vocal that I almost started crying, and I think you can hear that in the places where my voice breaks,” says Liz. “We wanted the song to feel fragile, so we kept it stripped back and raw.”
That fragility carries into the visuals. Liz teamed up with animator Kairav Dontamsetti to bring “No Time” into a shadowy world drawn from the Greek myth of Icarus and the pull of the sun. Rendered mostly in black and white, the animation mirrors the song’s stripped-back intensity, turning the dislocation of long-distance love into something stark, intimate, and quietly heartbreaking.
“No Time” was recorded at Talon Music Studios, Rose Bay, Sydney. It was co-produced by Grander Things and Ben Goldstein, and engineered by Ben Goldstein. Mixing was performed by Russell Pilling, and it was mastered by Blake Ware.
The Sydney four-piece, made up of Liz Clear (vocals), Brent Williams (guitar), Bruce Thomas (bass), and Rhys Lewis-Smith (drums), have form to spare, with members who’ve passed through Mr Blonde, The Petrov Affair, Pop Mechanix, The Moon, CLEAR, The Hard Word, and plenty more besides. They dropped their debut EP Mash in 2020, followed it up with Supermoon (EP) in 2021, and released a run of singles in 2025. Hopefully the debut LP won’t be too far away.
Enjoy our premiere of “No Time”, ahead of its release this Friday, 26th June.
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