Souls with a hollow void that can only be filled with dark and heavy shoegaze will be relieved to hear that San Francisco local Kristina Esfandiari has announced the release of her debut solo EP as Miserable, a most welcome late-winter surprise. The Halloween Dream 7-inch EP is due out February 18 on NYC-based boutique record label The Native Sound. The gorgeously eerie solo effort from the former Whirr vocalist bleeds velvety, disembodied vocals into a stormy wash of acoustic and electric guitar reverb, percussion, and drone. The crescendo on “Bell Jar”, the opening track, is particularly startling in its climactic grandeur, but the whole four-song EP is definitely worth a few listens.

Ms. Esfandiari is currently writing a full-length followup to her Miserable debut, which will likely coincide with a full US tour later this year. Meanwhile, she is also working on her separate King Women project.

Now that I’ve nearly made it through this entire post without using the words “haunting,” “ghostly,” or “ethereal”, the least you can do is listen to Miserable’s new EP. I assure you it’s well worth the fifteen minutes. By the way, the music video for the Halloween Dream title track recently premiered on Filter. Pre-orders for the Halloween Dream 7-inch EP also include an immediate download of the track.