Less than a year later and A Very Special Episode are back it, this time teaming up with their Brooklyn peers in Desert Sharks for a new split EP. With two songs from each band, DS + AVSE, due out March 8th via Substitute Scene Records (Wetsuit, Den-Mate), is a great pairing, gloomy but radiant.

“$5 Cover,” the record’s third single, isn’t the Fugazi tribute you might be hoping for, but rather a loving homage to band’s own musical community forged around the DIY space East Williamsburg Econolodge. The song is pulsing with dirgy bass and punchy vocal melodies, seething in the shadows one moment but vibrant and hooky the next.