Birthed from the ashes of Veelee, a lo-fi band that made waves around the local North Carolina Triangle scene, rock quartet Airstrip drops their debut album Willing this week. The project’s creative force, Matthew Park, desired to create a sound “more intense” than his former band’s dreamy minimalism, and on its Facebook page, Airstrip designates their sound as “nightmare pop.” All these watchwords intrigued me—so possibly I set my hopes too high—but Willing comes off more as a simpler probing of slightly psychedelic, stoner/surf rock. Fans of this genre will find the music to be solid, if not innovative, while those more curious for something new might turn away. But if you dig in deep enough you’ll find adequate infusions of dreamier elements, distorted atmospherics, and psychedelic experimentations to make the music well worth a listen.
Most tracks adopt the same structure; singular bass-grooves, mild down-tempo percussion, simple electric guitar melodies and off-kilter, reverb-wrapped vocals. It is a chill, minimalistic style that occasionally picks up layers and swirls towards psychedelic complexity. “Sleepy” features a simple and dark, crib-mobile sort of melody before dropping into an anesthetized groove complete with trippy vocals and a spacey, floating refrain. “Happenstance” veers towards the ominous, with tremulous growls plucked from its dark bass guitar and a voice that seems to call from the back corner of your mind. “Angry Bed” aims to be cool, hanging a lazy voice over low strums and deep rolling percussion while a detuned guitar undergoes querulous fits. “I Hit a Wall” is the album’s only real variance, with its pop melodies and fun, jump-up-and-down style of bright chaotic rock.
“So So” might be the best of the bunch. Vocals steeped in hard, small-room reverb impart the impression that you are trapped inside your own head—and suddenly it’s a great place to be as you are swept up into a melodic, dreamy, bell-laden chorus where that same voice now becomes soul-searching. It finishes climatically with a ferocious, blistering guitar solo that reels and strikes, melodically fighting its way to freedom. Tracks like this show that the band is likely capable of much more than what it is currently reaching for, which happily means their music is only going to get better from here on out.
