So just a quick EP to get the ball rolling again, and it comes courtesy of Finnish dream pop(ish) band The Here Todays, who despite the attempts of my autocorrect to tell me otherwise, definitely don’t have an apostrophe anywhere in their name.
They first emerged in 2018 with a really good single entitled ‘Umbrellas’ before returning last year with a ‘demo’ and a further single entitled ‘Takotsubo’, which is now also included on a new EP entitled ‘Pleasantries’, which was released last week.
These guys don’t say much, their Spotify profile suggests ‘emotional math rock, godspeed you! black emperor meets pavement’ (which i can see up to a point) and their new EP released with the least of fanfares on social media - although as Moddi was suggesting yesterday, releasing anything with a fanfare at the moment hardly seems the right thing to do.
I still feel they’re probably a band still refining their sound to an extent, but I really like the intent and identity they're trying to forge for themselves. ‘Humdrum’ is an intense version of a shoegaze track, with guitars offering a wall of sound that almost heads into the post rock direction. 'Atminstone' is carried along with a big guitar sound, but it’s 'April' which hits the mark for me best, and which they describe as “a love letter to seasonal depression’ (thanks guys, just what we need right now), with a great searing guitar theme and as melodic vocals as I think we'll probably hear from this band - it's a good combination.
Interesting sound these guys make, I can’t deny there's times I'd like to hear the vocals and lyrics more clearly, but they're not really that type of band - in fact making everything cleaner and less disturbed might make them sound quite cheery, and clearly they wouldn't want to be accused of that type of thing.
Anyway check out the EP, particularly 'April', well worth a listen.