By It’s our Bandcamp Picks of the Week, featuring a pair of EPs, including Force Model’s excellently noisy EP BARRICADE and The Republic of Wolves’ frontman Mason Maggio’s solo EP under the name Souveneer, THE QUANTUM MYSTICISM ISN’T HELPING!
Force Model – BARRICADE
Genre: Post-Hardcore, Indie Rock
Favorite Tracks: “All Expectations,” “How Can One Girl Be So Sad?”
Released a little more than a year ago, Force Model’s debut LP revealed the three-piece as a hardcore outfit with flares of power pop, punk and experimental. Their latest EP, BARRICADE, sees the Los Angeles-based group flesh out these motifs, creating a grander picture in the process. The record indelibly links itself with childhood; or at least the naivete of it: there’s a burned-out curiosity to the songs that asks do they still remember? We find ourselves amidst the tall, dry grass of a midsummer heat wave. Through reedy vocals and sharp charges in direction, Force Model learns how to clean up after themselves.
The opener, “All Expectations”, is a power-pop steamer with crashing guitar lines and sticky hooks. There’s a fresh emphasis on lyricism, with as much bodily energy dedicated to the struggle of the music as the cerebral writing: “Now I’m 15 willful and indignant / Doing things I know are bad for my health.” From there, we plunge into the title track; a hellscape conflict, with as many flames and crashing waves as the EP’s bizarro album art can fit. “I won’t stop you,” bleats the chorus as symbols swirl.
Across the following tracks, Force Model shows zealous appreciation for an array of influences: emo revival embodied on “Nothing At All” and “How Can One Girl Be So Sad?” recalling the bar-room jams of the seventies. It’s a bold move that pays off. Using these archetypes, they work through the ever-changing nature of growing up, getting through yourself “I can’t get off my phone / I’ll throw it out the window,” and general disillusionment.
The closer, “Pisces Dreamboat”, crowns itself as the operatic centerpiece to the project; showing its face, teeing itself up, then hitting a home run with a face-melting final minute. There’s a necessary catharsis missing from the previous tracks that hammers home this closer, wrapping up the EP tearily yet cleanly. It feels a bit like a mixtape forgotten in the back of a van somewhere, something put together to get through tough times without quite having the words for them. It’s available on Bandcamp. [Rory Donohue]
Souveneer – THE QUANTUM MYSTICISM ISN’T HELPING
Genre: Indie Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Favorite Tracks: “Sadly, I’m a Physicist,” “Sidescroller”
The Republic of Wolves, unfortunately, seems to operate only on their own schedule these days. Last year saw the release of three songs, all covers—their TWO CHRISTMAS SONGS and a take on Kevin Devine’s “Somewhere Unoccupied”—and December 2023’s WHY WOULD ANYBODY WANT TO LIVE THIS LONG was their first new material in over four years.
Thankfully, in the meantime, we’ve had a steady stream of material from frontman Mason Maggio’s solo project Souveneer. The sound is, of course, quite different from that of The Republic of Wolves—on his Bandcamp page he describes it as “alt-pop-indie-folk-emo”—but his voice, mellifluous and rich, is unmistakable.
Although Maggio’s been releasing music under the name Souveneer for nearly ten years, he’s been on a productive streak through the 2020s. With his most recent project, January’s THE QUANTUM MYSTICISM ISN’T HELPING, he’s turned in the best Souveneer material to date.
The wry twinkle of 79-second opener “Heavy Metal Hall of Fame”—on which Maggio sardonically compares himself to Black Sabbath, Metallica, and Judas Priest, among others, “although we might not sound the same”—sets the table for QUANTUM MYSTICISM neatly, introducing both the crisp jingle-jangle sound he’s perfected here and his self-effacing, humorous but never overbearing lyricism.
Things really kick into gear with “Sadly, I’m a Physicist,” which immediately builds off the momentum of “Heavy Metal Hall of Fame,” stacking jagged riffs on top of each other as the song builds to its effortless gossamer hook. “Save it for the flashback,” he crows in the second verse, before changing his tune: “Keep my name in your mouth.” Maggio’s voice flutters into his upper register for the second chorus, teeing up a bright, chiming guitar break.
Guitars drift into “Scold Me (I’m Feeling Wonderful)” like waves, taking on a hit of alt-country twang that curdles into an acid western churn as the riffs get thicker. QUANTUM MYSTICISM pivots drastically from there, “Johnny Grant’s Dying Wish” being the fastest, hardest-rocking song released under the Souveneer moniker. It’s the closest Souveneer has ever come to resembling Maggio’s work with his other band, the vocal effects and melody calling back to his work on The Republic of Wolves’ 2013 LP NO MATTER HOW NARROW.
By contrast, closer “Imagine Me Waving” would fit nicely on SLEEP STUDY or DREAM JOURNAL, a warm jaunt that unfurls at the pace of a summer breeze. When it does hit its apex, three minutes in, as Maggio admits he’ll “never get better than I am now,” the shift is so gradual it’s almost imperceptible. It’s an apt metaphor for the growth Souveneer’s made since those albums, a slow and gentle rise that’s only noticeable in hindsight.
The EP’s best song, though, and possibly Souveneer’s absolute best work, is sandwiched between “Johnny Grant’s Dying Wish” and “Imagine Me Waving.” A buzzy, insistent lick juts against Maggio’s breathy, unobtrusive delivery to announce “Sidescroller.” As the song wears on, his vocals get double-tracked, and the guitar riff comes to echo the verse melody; the solo comes in during the bridge, a release of all the track’s pent-up tension, and in seconds it’s over, and Maggio’s exhaling the song’s final lyrics—“nihilism is a sharp knife”—over a soft arpeggio. “Sidescroller” is the single best demonstration of what Souveneer does well, of how this project is unique from The Republic of Wolves, and of why Maggio is one of the most underrated songwriters in the indie rock world today. Grab it on Bandcamp and keep his name in your mouth. [Zac Djamoos]
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