Are We All Angels [CD]

Hardcore band Scowl from Santa Cruz have announced their new album "Are We All Angels" via Dead Oceans. It is their first album on the label, whose roster includes Phoebe Bridgers, Mitski and Japanese Breakfast. Produced by Will Yip (Turnstile, Title Fight, Mannequin Pussy, etc.), who also worked on their last project, 2023's "Psychic Dance Routine" EP, "Are We All Angels" finds the venomous and antagonistic band channeling their aggression through a more expansive version of themselves. The album was mixed by Rich Costey (Fiona Apple, My Chemical Romance, Vampire Weekend, etc.).

"Are We All Angels" is characterized by alienation, grief and loss of control, and largely grapples with their newfound place in the hardcore scene, a community that the band has both embraced and made into a lightning rod of sorts in recent years. The first single, "Not Hell, Not Heaven," flatly rejects the narratives spread about them by outsiders. "It's about feeling like a victim and being a victim, but not wanting to identify with it," explains singer and frontwoman Kat Moss.

On "Are We All Angels", the band explores ambitious new directions and bends genre norms at every turn. Moss makes the most immediately recognizable evolution, dropping some of the gnarly bite of the band's earlier work in favor of a more textured and sometimes delicate approach. She plays with harmonies and melodic subtlety that might surprise even the most die-hard Scowl fans. Moss cites a wide range of influences outside of hard rock - everything from Billie Eilish to Radiohead, Car Seat Headrest to Julien Baker. "Most of us really weren't skilled musicians when the band started," she admits. "It was very Germs-esque in that way, like a baby's first hardcore band, which is great. Now we still might not know what we're doing, but we have a better idea of what we want to do." Instrumentally, the band cites influences from Negative Approach, Bad Brains, Hole, Mudhoney, Garbage, Ramones, Pixies, Sonic Youth, Rocket From The Crypt and others. Bassist Bailey Lupo notes, "The songwriting for the new record was the most collaborative in Scowl's history. Everyone brought so many ideas to the table and we were able to analyze them all and take our time. We all have such different tastes, influences and personalities, and you can really hear that in every corner of this album."

Even through this eclectic approach, Scowl lose none of their edge and still manage to convey the anger and frustration behind it all. They are deeply committed to the ethos of punk and its sense of community. "Hardcore and punk have shaped how we work, what we want to do as a band and how we participate," says Greene. "At our core, we're a punk and hardcore band, regardless of how the song changes." The album opens with the previously released "Special," a song with big, anthemic energy that retains the raw intensity of Scowl.

Scowl have quickly established themselves as one of the most dynamic and hardworking acts on the rock scene, touring extensively in the US and internationally with bands such as Limp Bizkit, Destroy Boys, The Bronx, Militarie Gun, Show Me The Body, Zulu, Touche Amore, A Day To Remember, Speed, Sunami and many others, as well as festival appearances at Coachella, Reading & Leeds, No Values, Outbreak, Primavera and Sick New World, to name a few. The band - Malachi Greene (guitar), Bailey Lupo (bass), Cole Gilbert (drums), Mikey Bifolco (guitar) and Kat Moss (vocals) - formed in 2019 and celebrated their breakthrough in 2021 with their debut album "How Flowers Grow". Since then, they have been on an unstoppable rise.