February was a great month for new songs, and a great month for new albums and EPs too — at least in terms of alternative music. I can’t speak to the quality of the latest releases in other genres, though I’ve heard there is some very good polka coming out.
I don’t actually know anything about polka, but I just did a bit of reading about it out of curiosity. The only remotely interesting thing I learned in about 45 seconds of research is that Frankie Yankovic, who Google claims is the best polka musician ever, once collaborated with infamous jokester “Weird Al” Yankovic. The interesting part is that, despite sharing the same last name, they aren’t actually related. Who am I kidding, that’s not interesting at all.
I’ll stop rambling and get down to business. Here are ALT-MART’s favourite new alternative (and alternative-adjacent) albums and EPs of February, 2023.
You’re Alone – MIRSY
This may be an alternative music blog, but I love R&B, and You’re Alone, the first full album from MIRSY, definitely reminds me of some of my favourite R&B. The similarities are particular pronounced in songs like Wish and Thank You which, along with Touch Me, are my favourites on the album.
Having said that, I would still call this an alternative album, as it seems to draw as much from dream pop and grunge and shoegaze as it does from any other genre. The cool thing is that it drifts between all of those genres totally effortlessly. There’s nothing clunky or forced about it. It’s a smooth, seven-track ride that will be especially enjoyable for anybody whose music taste tends to be all over the place — which, let’s be honest, is most people.
If MIRSY sounds familiar, that’s because Marisa Shirar, the LA-based vocalist and guitarist behind the project, also lent her immense talent to Fleshwater, the alternative project that blew a lot of our minds last year.
Thought I Heard Your Car – Growing Pains
If you’ve read anything on this blog, you’ve probably deduced that I love shoegaze. My one knock on the genre is that the vocals tend to be pretty uninspired. I know that hazy, washed-out vocals are a hallmark of shoegaze music, but that doesn’t mean shoegaze vocals need to be boring.
I wouldn’t call Portland’s Growing Pains a shoegaze band, but there is definitely some shoegaze influence on their new EP, Thought I Heard Your Car. Just listen to the guitar in the opening track What Are the Odds? In any case, this band immediately succeeds where a lot of similar bands fail, and they have vocalist Kalia Storer (who also plays bass) to thank for it. Storer’s vocal parts are sweet and poppy and meandering and at times so catchy that it verges on annoying, yet her singing still maintains a dreaminess that fans of shoegaze and similar genres will love.
That’s not suggest the rest of the band was slacking when this EP was written. Musically this one draws from all the same wells as Storer does with her singing — from shoegaze to pop to college rock – and it works really well. Check out the songs Lemon Lime and In Effigy, but definitely listen to this one through if you’ve got time.
If you’re so bored enough to be reading this blog, you’ve definitely got time.
Seney Stretch – Charmer
I take the guitar for granted. Maybe it’s because I hear it too much, or maybe it’s because it’s possible to bend and distort the sound it makes so much that it become totally unrecognizable, but I take it for granted.
The first thing I appreciated about Seney Stretch, the new EP from Marquette, Michigan-based emo quartet Charmer, is that it’s a reminder of the awesome power of the guitar. Obviously, guitars are responsible for the structure of a lot of our favourite songs. Everybody understands how important the instrument is. But I sometimes forget how much depth and texture a guitar can add to a song, even when it’s played simply. Seney Stretch – in particularly the first two tracks, Tulip Sniper and Slow Death – is a great example of that. In fact, I think it’s what sets the EP apart.
Of course, that’s not all there is to like about it. While the EP is a little more restrained than the band’s previous releases, all four songs are well written. My favourites, as I said above, are the first two, but you might dig the second two more if your tastes lean more toward the emo and pop punk the band is known for.
anything else – Kraus
Kraus, the eponymous shoegaze project from Texas talent-hog Will Kraus, put out a new EP today – on the very last day of February. It’s only two songs, and both Spotify and Apple Music are calling it a single, but how can two songs be a single? This is just like that movie trope where two kids try to disguise themselves as one adult by wearing a trench coat. I’m not falling for it.
Generally I like to listen to EPs and Albums a few listens through before I make any sweeping declarations about their quality, but in this case, it wasn’t necessary. Kraus has been one of the best shoegaze bands in the world since at least 2018 – in fact I would argue only They Are Gutting A Body of Water can currently rival the band’s might. Kraus has been doing everything Nothing has been doing, but way better, and it’s just one dude doing it.
His two newest songs are among his best ever. That’s definitely due to in large part to the fact that he has enlisted a female vocalist to provide harmonies. Bands like Chapterhouse, Slowdive and Pia Fraus proved long ago how well that works in shoegaze music, but it’s something we haven’t really heard from Kraus before, and it only adds depth to his music.
Depth has always been what sets Kraus’ music apart from that of similar bands. He writes songs you can fall into, songs you can drown in, and his latest two fit that description as well as anything he’s written so far.
Lead photograph via MIRSY on bandcamp.
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