Hi, everyone. Sorry this one's so late. Send music shit to [ fosterhildingmusic@gmail.com ] or DM me on Instagram.
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| photos courtesy of punxsutawney. |
It was maybe a week before their bite-sized opus EP, Untitled, dropped when I found punxsutawney. I'll admit, at first I was thrown off by the idea of a new post-rock band touring with Vs Self (for all intents and purposes, the catalyst for commodifying our current online emo revival). I was convinced it would just be that: post-rock emofied. Of course, there's nothing wrong with this, but as a worshipper of all things post-rock, myself, I was hesitant. I was wrong.
Rin begins as unassuming as possible--two guitars lift off in tandem through melody, one plucking like a bird at harmonic chords, and the other tugging chords across their chains, cymbals scratching at themselves to be released. I'm not sure who played what specific parts other than bass, so I will refrain from naming anyone now. That being said, when Sage's bass finally pushes all the guitars in different directions, splayed across headsets like murder aftermath, it finally settles in. This mix is absolutely perfect--enormous props to Ren from Blimp for this one. From there we settle and spike, settle and spike across the minutes. A dry guitar bends between two chords before an army of its friends occupy every single molecule of space, slowly taking up more and more. It's never sad and never angry--like a wandering poem that seeks only to describe rather than prescribe.
Part two of Rin takes the ashes of the former and makes them new--a spiraling chorus of harmonics rising and falling in aching tension. We break into this driving section and those first moments just feel unbelievable. Trust me, just listen for yourself. A doubled fuzzy lead takes over the track and dominates our attention. We build and slowly break down.
Jade's Song feels like a release from painful memory--only the jolting content of the present and the fleeting joy of the moment left for us. It's cute in a good way. Guitars pop and jump as cymbals surround us, light and driving. Then that first change comes in and bass takes over, a descending line that crushes everything in its path. This track is one of the few moments on the EP that feels slightly repetitive, but that's partly why this booming bass part is so incredibly satisfying. The way the guitars weave and interact beneath it, too, is just fucking sick.
This Is Not The Way Home is gorgeous. Emo lines twinkle their way from a constant force into a spacious reprieve. There is so much to find in these melodies, so much candy and goodness. Toms hammer their bold introduction into a burning guitar line. We sit there for a while, changing every time and changing all the time. It's beautiful there. My love for Rin overshadows this song, but its still truly incredible.
Landing System starts in a slow, fuzzy rise. Hi-hats click until they're joined by their stronger friends. A gliding guitar traces the edges of our final track, floating like a wistful memory. Just as the intro risks feeling repetitive, both guitars join forces in this miraculous change up that is nothing short of bittersweet, heartbreaking, and tranquil. Both parts are self-contained, yet could not exist without the other. A Tortoise-esque bridge breaks us free from the hypnotics and we hear a final call of our sliding bird. We do it all again to different effects, slowly disappearing into an ambient glow of alien guitars echoing against far-away cymbals and single bass notes. We fall into it, its trance-like draw and its beckoning call.
What remains for its final minutes is a bouncing guitar with newfound edge and ambition, sliding its way between two chords as a bass groove picks us up. We're fully awake now, fully slapped out of our trance, yet unprepared for the cacophony of melodramatic sound to come. A million guitars swarm our ear drums like wasps before disappearing. Bass introduces a legitimately epic, and the most Godspeed-worship part of the album, unison guitars falling in and out of sync against wartime melodies and constant, forceful drums. I cannot get enough of this ending. It doesn't overstay, breaking out of rhythm time and time again until there is nothing left to be played.
I've listened to this album an absurd amount of times at this point. It's exactly what we need right now, and the biggest breath of fresh air I've had in a long time. We need post-rock like this, we need longform music that takes chances. punxsutawney is that. Do that.
8.5/10
Stream Untitled.
-Foster
See punxsutawney live with MyVeronica and Faint at Doghouse on May 31st.
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