by Patrick Haynes (@expertfrowner)
On Visitor, Empath delivers an album that is power-pop in the lineage of modern classics like All Dogs’ Kicking Every Day and Cayetana’s Nervous Like Me, and send them out to space, with some psych-rock flourishes that don’t often find their way into music this catchy. For the first half of the album, Visitor follows the formula of a lot of power-pop: very catchy hooks, chords that callback to rock and pop of the past, and tons of energy. Attention is immediately drawn to the vocals of Catherine Elicson - who is also the band’s guitarist - and the keys from Emily Shanahan and Randall Coon, often alternating between memorable chorus hooks from Elicson and instrumental riffs from Shanahan and Coon in a way that often recalls Motion City Soundtrack, especially on the infectious “Born 100 Times.”
While these songs are great and deliver some tuneful hooks, the album begins to shift in tone around “Elvis Comeback Special,” where some delay, reverb, and modulation effects begin to recall shoegaze and some space rock in a way that doesn’t often mesh with power-pop. However, Empath combines them expertly. “Elvis Comeback Special” feels like it could simultaneously be one of the most contagious Slowdive songs, as well as one of the most eccentric songs that many of their Philadelphia peers have concocted. On “V,” Empath goes fully instrumental, crafting a soundscape that appears to tie the two sounds of the band fully together. A lot of similar bands seem to use instrumental tracks without fully earning them, but on Visitor, the payoff at the end of “V” sells the album completely and leads to the conclusion of “Bell” and “Paradise,” two of the more memorable songs on the album.
With All Dogs and Hop Along’s status being dormant for the last few years and other bands like Cayetana and Chumped having broken up, Philadelphia’s Empath might just be the next indie band from Philly to drop an album to keep an eye on, and the way they mold a variety of different genres might give them the additional flexibility to outlast many of their peers.