If It's Too Loud...

The Huntress and Holder of Hands' 2017 album Avalon  has stealthily become an all time favorite. Although I did see MorganEve Swain perform solo late last summer, it had been quite a while since I saw The Huntress and Holder of Hands as a full band. Add to that the fact that they were playing in a new venue I had yet to make it to, and Eye Witness was opening, and it quickly became an impossible to miss show.  Eye Witness opened the show. They're an indie folk duo out of central MA making their debut as a trio. Rainy and Milo are now joined by Lovina on keyboard. Seeing as how I had never seen them, I can't compare them to their previous incarnation, but the trio played quite well together. One thing that surprised me is how loudly they played for an indie folk band. Sure, Eye Witness have some folk elements, but they rocked more than a little too hard to be truly folk. Plus, the music had some very dark vibes. An alt-rock band disguised as a folk trio playing dark music? S...

Based in Boston, Service are one of the many bands that include Rainy Maple Sugar Candy (Sapling, Eye Witness) as a member. This time, Rainy is on drums and vocals are handled by Luka Lemander. The band's new EP, High Speed Vomit , is more along the lines of Sapling than Eye Witness. Service is punk, but a completely different breed of punk. The EP opener, "Albondigas," starts off more in the realm of math rock and even prog rock before just exploding into a faster punk sound. It kind of reminds me of Ex Models. "Spodes" takes the loud/quiet/loud trope and converts it to quiet/loud/fast/louder/quiet. "May Song" is as intensely catchy as it is loud. Somehow the songs on High Speed Vomit  are both discordant and beautiful, and as punk as they are prog. It takes a unique band to pull all of that off this well. You can listen to "May Song" below. High Speed Vomit is available now via Bandcamp . If you can wait until tomorrow, it's a Bandcamp ...

I've become enamored with Massachusetts's own Sapling this year. Their album No Sequoia is a strong contender for my best of 2020 list, so when I heard that Sapling's Rainy Maple Sugar Candy had another project, I obviously had to check it out. Eye Witness is that project, and it's an indie folk duo consisting of Rainy and Milo. I personally wouldn't have pictured Rainy being in an indie folk duo, but once you listen to "Miss Me," you'll get it. Milo takes vocal duties on the song, and the first thing you'll notice is that he doesn't have a traditional folk voice. It's unique in the way that someone like J Mascis has a unique voice. You wouldn't enjoy him doing karaoke, but his voice fits the music perfectly. "Miss Me" has an intensely dark feel, and despite being indie folk, it simply rocks.  You can listen to "Miss Me" below. Miss Me  is also the name of Eye Witness's upcoming album which will be out on Jun...