A lovely five-song EP from London’s Achers that, depending on the shape your fancies take, could variously be termed emo, indie, post-punk or post-hardcore.
Things are spiky and terse but certainly not unfriendly, occupying a place that brings to mind the emo scenes of DC and San Diego alongside a lick of mid-90s Matador or Domino Records. The opening track picks apart the awkward tensions that come from trying to inhabit a middle class space that you weren’t born into, the arpeggiated riff and conversational vocals reminiscent of a Chris Leo project by way of Rick Froberg jitters. ‘Asahi Bear’, meanwhile, builds itself around a slow, slinking riff reminiscent of last-album Twelve Hour turn, but also deploys a Seam-y sense of melancholy.
Threaded through elsewhere are moments that recall bands like Moonraker, Shoutbus! And Sebadoh, but lest you imagine all these comparisons might make things bittily patchwork you can rest assured that everything feels right and whole—this is a release that is loaded with killer songs, and crackles with both passion and its own distinct personality.