by Dan Goldin (@paintingwithdan)
As one of Philadelphia’s most in-demand punk bands, Eraser have spent the past two years playing with everyone from Control Top and Mesh to Artificial Go and Disintegration. Set to release Hideout, their highly anticipated debut EP on April 1st via Siltbreeze Records (Famous Mammals, Ostraaly, Tyvek), the band’s eclectic tastes come together to create an amorphous shape of minimalist post-punk and quirky no-wave. The quartet of Sonam (Drill, Ursula), Pier (Privacy Issues), Kat (Amanda X, Clasp) and Juliette (Corey Flood), bring together so much of what makes Philadelphia’s DIY punk scene great, their music is scrappy and inventive, melodic yet raw, remarkably irreverent and socially conscious. It’s a gift that Eraser highlight throughout Hideout, trading between itchy skeletal structures and a piercing sense of humor.
“Simon Says” is the record’s first single (following “Trans AF,” the band’s contribution to No Occupation: Another Benefit for Mutual Aid in Gaza), and it’s as good an introduction as any.With a tightly wound groove and a stabbing synth punk lead, the band spring to life, clamoring with a nervy simplicity that’s engaging and rampant with hooks both melodic and rhythmic. It’s a song that stays loosely coiled from start to finish, bouncing and digging into the hypnotic energy. The video, directed by Jacqueline Castel, is shot in a gorgeous black in white with stop motion glitches that perfectly snap and distort with the song’s theme and alien punk aesthetic.
Speaking about video, Castel shared:
“Shot on 16mm utilizing stop motion pixilation techniques, the video for Eraser's "Simon Says" is a play on the call and response children's game, and the mischievous and flippant rejection of blind obedience at the cost of one's personal autonomy.”