The band New, Not Shameful opens their EP, titled Interlude, with a simple but transfixing guitar line, creating an unlikely, downtempo mood for the initial track, “sex song”. Sparse and haunting, the guitar paves the way for spaced out and minimalist drum work that begins at thirty seconds. It is this stark pairing that effectively sets the tone for a record that triangulates the work of forebears like Duster, Desaparecidos, and early Modest Mouse. The EP warrants headphones and solitude, and even if that means canceling plans and hanging in for the evening, you won’t regret it.
The record begins with the lyrics: “Every moment up here / Is just a moment with you / When I want to be scared / I want to be scared with you”. From the opening minute, we can tell this is not Marvin Gaye’s version of a sex song or even Marcy Playground’s for that matter. Instead, this is a song about deliberately unsexy topics like vulnerability and intimacy; what so often turns out to be the aftermath of sex, rather than the seductive build up typically associated with more familiar “sex songs.” This more introspective interrogation of relationships is, of course, well suited to a band rooted in slowcore, lo-fi indie rock, and certain strands of emo. The result is an infinitely more substantive and compelling reflection on intimacy.
The second song, “moron”, takes an interesting turn as we hear what would appear to be a female voice reading lyrics over another slow-pulsing guitar line. The tune effectively echoes the quasi-manic energy of tracks like Radiohead’s “Fitter Happier” or even They Are Gutting a Body of Water’s “Chase.” It sounds like a stream-of-consciousness journal entry, with the voice reading out loud: “I wanted to reach out and apologize for the utopian anarchic sexy version of clear tear hydrogen peroxide, which you let soak for six hours / Sometimes I forgot the connection of fruit to snack on”. At times, the consciousness sounds incoherent like something out of a Hunter S. Thompson narrative, but then it will slip into momentary coherence: “So I told you I was wondering if I could identify the non-negotiables and negotiables. Think back on those other relationships.” These are lyrics that reflect the fragmented experience of living in late-stage capitalism in which we are constantly inundated with commercials, competing headlines, and the endless scroll. The song appropriately culminates in chaos and shouting, a cathartic attempt to make sense of the fractured experience of everyday life and relational volatility.
In “mr gates”, a faint cello-like drone eventually swells underneath the chords of a guitar and drums. The singer repeats: “Trying to get through / But get through won’t pay the bills / Try to hurt you / But hurt you won’t pay the bills”. Like in the earlier tracks, a fraught relationship takes center stage in a tune that is slightly less dynamic, but no less memorable. Survival and “making a living” are at odds in yet another song that indexes the contradictions at the heart of contemporary life, ultimately revealing a world that wears against and so often erodes human connection and relationships.
The final track shares the EP’s title and effectively wields the quieter minimalism of earlier songs to articulate a ruminative conclusion. Reduced to just guitar and vocals, the artist sings: “I know everything goes / Say a prayer / Watching everything go everywhere.” It is an ode to the fleeting present in which “everything goes,” a fitting end to this contemplative EP. After all, an interlude cannot (and should not) last forever. It is by definition a transition, and New, Not Shameful’s Interlude is one that you won’t want to miss. Check it out through the links below.
Written by SilenceKid
