by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Since forming just a few years ago, Philadelphia’s Grocer has stayed very busy recording and touring at time that’s been difficult for most bands to do either, let alone both. With an LP and EP to their name, the band did a six week tour in 2021 during that window of pandemic time when everyone felt pretty okay about things. It was of course still a rocky time for being a DIY band on the road, but the band used the experience to capture a feeling of urgency on their upcoming sophomore album, Numbers Game. Due out May 6th via Grind Select (Dominic Sen, Ehiorobo, Pine Barons), it’s an eclectic record that builds upon last year’s Delete If Not Allowed, mining the sound of 90’s alternative rock but reshaping it for modern times. With the band comprised of three vocalists and songwriters, there’s a good deal of dynamics to their music, each one offering a different spin of the cohesive whole.
Having previously shared the detached and considerably 80’s-tinged post-punk meets art-pop track “Pick A Way,” the band head in an entirely different direction on “Mountain Home.” The album’s second single is mangled and distorted, still with a pop sheen at its core, but filtered through noise rock filth and post-hardcore tonality. The bass digs deep and the guitars have a serrated quality to their piercing attack, offering a freaked out riff that runs a wild juxtaposition with the hypnotic rhythm. Nicholas Rahn’s vocal melody moves between a dizzying sort of rhyme scheme and exaggerated howl, but even as they snake around the sludge, Grocer maintain radio friendly catchiness.
The music video, directed by Rahn, puts objects to the lyrics, recreating the themes of gentrification that come as a result of living a life of comfort. There’s even a pair of binoculars that shoots lasers… because, well, you can’t have comfort (or music videos) without lasers. We don’t make the rules. Speaking about the song, Rahn shared:
"‘Mountain Home’ explores the often unconsidered consequences of our day-to-day lifestyles. The lyrics draw attention to those displaced in the wake of our pursuits of comfort, and self worth. The lyrics touch on themes of colonization, climate change, and consumerism, yelled over a messy splattering of drums and guitars laced with a banal chromatic motif."