New Music: really regular – [redacted]

This Nashville indie outfit call themselves a “really regular band made up of really regular people that make music.”

I’m not sure what the opposite of nominative determinism is, because really regular are as far from being regular as possible. The lyrics of [redacted] border on the philosophical in terms of their theme, but the words are incredibly grounded.

The couplet “When did God start kicking rocks at all of us? / From dust to dust is literal, I guess” is a pithy expression of doubt, not so much of faith, but in life as we have to live it, given a 90s/00s crossover rock arrangement to drive those words forward.

It’s not quite as hard-edged as the confessional pop-punk of Me @ The Altar, but the lyrics are as direct and literate. Maybe you can hear early Paramore too, with the pop sensibility less to the front and the melody – and vocals – on full blast, a light yet pugilistic flavour of emo and alt rock that sees the band looking for answers, not just asking questions.

The band says this about what [redacted] wants to communicate to the listener and how it says that: “This song is about letting sensitivity be your superpower and never letting the end of the world get you down. The lyrics peel back the layers of reality to reveal its raw, ugly underbelly, while the instrumentation provides an angsty hotbed of fuzzed-out guitars and punch-drunk drums.”

You can connect with them really regularly on Instagram, and the band are currently working to line up more live shows. You can pick up [redacted] on Bandcamp, where there are a whole load more digital goodies from their back catalogue. It’s also streaming on Apple Music, SoundCloud, and Spotify.

Header photo by Annna Park