Some Friday Stuff from Lowlight, Grasser, and A Giant Dog

Lowlight released their video for "Bones" earlier this week.

Round Em Up

I guess it's a good problem to have, but I've been feeling pretty overwhelmed by the deluge of new music from national and local acts that's been coming across my desk. I wish I could give in-depth coverage (or any coverage) to lots more stuff than I do, but I'm just one disorganized and kind of lazy person. But but but... ...here are three things from this week that caught my attention.

Lowlight, "Bones"

"Bones" is a standout single from Lowlight's standout debut album Where Do We Go From Here. According to singer / songwriter / guitarist Renee Maskin, "Bones" is "a song that touches upon the thrill and the beauty of life and its expectations, while also recognizing its limitations." It's that morning after a booze-soaked, reckless night. It's viewing your past actions and decisions under the harsh light of the present day.

The stunningly beautiful, Andrew Bond-directed clip for the song sees its characters constrained and hemmed in by life's circumstances, society's norms, or literal restraints. It's a powerful video that leaves much to the viewer's interpretation while capturing the stark and solitary feeling that runs through much of Where Do We Go From Here.



Grasser,  College Dropout(s)

Back in 2015, members of Yawn Mower, Sojourner, Prehistoric Forest, and toilet. got together and began fleshing out the skeletons of some songs. The group tracked songs at their homes, in rehearsal spaces, and -- somehow -- at the public library. It was almost a full year before they took what they had to Pat Noon at EightSixteen Studios (Brick + Mortar, River City Extension, GayGuy / StraightGuy) for final mixing.

What came out of all of this is the four-song College Dropout(s). The band cites Philly emo / post-hardcore acts like Algernon Cadwallader and mewithoutYou as influences. That's evident in the ambient feel of "Oh, I'm Downtown" or "Dawg, You Trippin'." There's also a pop sensibility that comes through in the overall vocal delivery and in the pace and bounciness of songs like opener "It Ain't Nuttin' Butta Buh-Day" and "Yes, And."

College Dropout(s) is available digitally today from wherever you like to get that kind of stuff and it's slated for a cassette release in December.



A Giant Dog, "Jizzney"

Relatively new Merge signees A Giant Dog have been on my radar for a while now. It wasn't until Justin from Dentist really started talking them up to me that I started (virtually) spinning their album Pile regularly. The band's combination of garage rock and 70s glam has really started to grow on me; and just as that was happening, they released the video for Pile-track "Jizzney."

Mike McCarthy's production -- the doubled vocals of Sabrina Ellis and just the overall chimey, spaciousness of "Jizzney" -- encapsulates a lot of what I've been enjoying about this band over the last week or two. And the Daniel Ralston-directed video is comedically dark and kind of creepy.