Payton Massey
The Dallas Indie-Rock Trio Pares Down Production For A Track Perfect For Your Lo-Fi Playlists Meant For A Night Alone With Your Thoughts.
Welcome to Song of the Day, where we hip you to all the new local releases you should be caring about. By highlighting one new North Texas-sprung tune every week day, our hope is that you’ll find something new to love about the rich and abundant DFW music scene five days a week.
Cool Jacket – “Sludge”
RIYL: Self-aware lo-fi.
What Else You Should Know: Self-proclaimed “working class” rock trio Cool Jacket made their entire new EP in their drummers’ house.
At the end of March, Cool Jacket blessed us with their latest EP titled 2, and despite its DIY conception, 2 is notably more refined than the band’s 2016 self-titled EP. The new release includes five tracks and opens strong with “Fear of Missing Out” and finishes even stronger with “Sludge.”
2 as a whole is fast, fun and perfectly self-aware. Cool Jacket’s sound is a solid balance of indie and punk, and even a little emo (But let’s be honest, who isn’t?). “Sludge” starts off with ambient noise and a slow vamp to let us catch our breath before the EP’s conclusion. The trio draws us in with lyrics that, like much of Cool Jacket’s work, provide room for reflection. They poke at the way money alters music by “killing disco” and taking “a shit on rock and roll.” Are they wrong?
More poignantly, Cool Jacket leaves us contemplating our existence by asking, “What are we actually doing here?” and “Is any of this even worth the trouble?”
The EP altogether has a pretty 90s vibe to it but really drives it home with “Sludge,” which is loud, gritty and reminiscent of Built To Spill’s notoriously lengthy closing tracks. The song fits comfortably into whatever indie/punk/alternative playlists you’ve been curating in quarantine, but we’ve been pairing it with Culture Abuse. and the long-awaited new goods from Hum.
“Sludge” might be the perfect track to back this weird summer of forced (albeit welcomed) self-reflection.