by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Aside from an early version of “No Home Planet,” it’s been four years since Minneapolis’ Scrunchies released their debut album, Stunner. The record lived up to its name, a true ripper of blistering riot grrrl influenced punk, bounding post-punk, and a touch of post-hardcore. The band return with Feral Coast, their second album, due out April 1st via Dirtnap Records (Personality Cult, The Hussy, The Ergs) and State Champion Records (Marissa Paternoster, Snakeskin, TVO). The new album picks up where the first left off, big enormous riffs (that often serve as hooks), melodic earworms cutting through the dissonance, and a heavy pummel that grinds with wall of sound density.
“Parallel” is the record’s second single, an immediate blast of discordant punk that is consistently shifting textures as it whips around. Laura Larson (Kitten Forever, Baby Guts) and Danielle Cusack (Bruise Violet) trade off vocals, their impassioned shouts echoing between one another, ferocious but also disconnected. There are moments that recall early Sleater-Kinney, but Scrunchies are doing their own thing, and it’s clear that they have a good time in doing so, even as they’re fighting to be heard. The bridge really digs with the guitar’s hum reaching a new level of thick and swarming.
Speaking about the song, Scrunchies’ Laura Larson shared:
"We wanted “Parallel” to be like "Squirrel Song" by Shellac, and have these jarring, uneven measures to the verses. I was also very interested in having Danielle do this Kim Gordon-esque deadpan call-and-response vocal delivery in the bridge, almost as a juxtaposition to the song's loose theme of both self-imposed and external hope + idealism vs turbulence + obstruction of being a woman making art during late stage capitalism."