By It’s our Bandcamp Pick of the Week, featuring Erasergirl’s EP 30, a mix of sludgy and crisp alternative rock that’s out now via Fountain Records!
Erasergirl – 30
Genre: Indie Rock, Alt-Rock, Space Rock
Favorite Track: “Sage”
Washington, DC five-piece Erasergirl deals in extremes. Their debut EP, 30, oscillates between crisp, clean arpeggios and thick, heavy eruptions. The four songs here follow roughly the same sort of pattern, building up from jangly verses to explosive choruses with sludgy riffs indebted to Hum or Failure, all anchored by Grace Plihal’s expressive lilt.
There is, admittedly, not a ton of sonic diversity to be found throughout 30: a twinkling riff welcomes you into the record on “halo” before a wall of feedback kicks your teeth in, and then the band repeats that trick on “orange.” When Erasergirl really succeeds, though, is when they heighten those contrasts. The second half of the EP, comprising “sage” and “30,” exemplifies this nicely. The former track is spacey and open, slow and ominous in its verse before its chorus absolutely demolishes the whole thing–it veers closer to metalcore than the usual heavygaze style, a bass-heavy whirlwind that carries through into the song’s pulverizing instrumental coda.
The title track, then, closes out the EP by mostly pulling in the other direction. While “30” has its share of peaks and valleys, and while its chorus is darker and heavier than nearly any other moment here, the track does spend far, far more time pulling things back. Its bridge loops Plihal’s voice over a drone for a few seconds, and in its second verse it slows a bit. They’re small changes, to be sure, but these tweaks to the formula help keep 30 interesting. In any case, it’s a promising first outing for a young band. Pick it up on Bandcamp and let’s see where things go from here.
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