Existential, sudden dread is the latest from Albany, New York-based shoegaze band Senior Living. Self described with punky tinges, I’d say any one-liner trying to describe them would fall short; they dabble in much more than that. From the first song (the title track), we see remnants of that distant-mixed screaming that defined much of emo in the last decade: That chest-full, untrained, but nonetheless gritty type of screaming that could only carry the two most harrowing lines of lyrics you’ll never forget. The twin guitars on the first track work almost symbiotically, but their relationship will change along the duration of the project. I can distinctly refer to this project to anyone who feels most of the scope on emo revival ranges only as far back as the 2000s.
The second track, “in this”, changes its barrels quite a bit, in favor of a simple single note riff that reels you in before dialing up the haze. It’s grungier than the rest of the project, with even the screams being less title fight and more. It’s an undoubtedly fun track, and I feel more in that mid-tempo, even slowing down after the first two sections to offer something you could absolutely jump and holler to. Ending on a chord that leaves it all sounding ambiguous, “in this” takes a different approach to the formula of mono guitar for one bar before crashing the whole band into the listener, with a penchant for riffs you can actually mosh to for a lil’.
“Oasis” slows down alongside a tired voice. A very characteristic and very Haas vocal effect walks the track right until a piercing harmonic breaks the calm and launches us back into the familiar grunge-gaze sound the band offers on this project. “Flower shielding” sees the voice shedding the effects to speak directly at you. It’s maybe my favorite off the EP.
By the time I arrived at “juulia child”, I was glad to find something here that I found on a lot of good contemporary entries in the genre. I’d talked before about “amalgamation emo” before, where bands that had access to a full catalogue of many iterations of the waves of emo mix in calling cards and trademarks of each, resulting in interesting mixes and more a feeling of a lived-in genre instead of a space with rigid walls. I’d often see it contained to singular songs or examples, but on existential, sudden dread, we see it exist across the entire project, allowing for each song to carve out its own identity.
There are full servings of grunge present here, in a way where I could actually see them playing back then, and not just taking notes from the time period. It unashamedly walks into ’90s Foo Fighters territory, especially from the time it was obvious the rhythm section was swiped from Sunny Day Real Estate. While true to dreamier sensibilities, it never fully compounds its own personality out of the equation in favor of vibes or texture, perhaps best exemplified by a voice that still carries presence and personality alongside the instruments, and not despite it.
The EP is, at the end of the day, a recollection of new songs alongside familiar faces from the band, with “Flower shielding” even hailing from its own self-titled EP, released in April.
Take a listen to Existential, sudden dread below.
Written by Charlotte Lacambra
