Tag: Diary The Cutting Garden EP

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Diary Shares Madchester-like “Keep Comin’ Up”

Brooklyn-based quintet Diary — longtime friends and co-founders Kevin Bendis (vocals) and Chris Croarkin (guitar), along with Adam Sachs (drums), High Waisted‘s Jessica Dye (vocals, guitar), and Two Man Giant Squid‘s Yan Kogan (bass) — have released two critically applauded EPs, 2024’s Speedboat and 2022’s The Cutting Garden and a list of singles, which they’ve supported with touring on both sides of the pond.

The local outfit’s highly-anticipated full-length debut, Spiral Bound is slated for a September 4, 2026 release through their longtime label home, Kanine Records. The album’s overall sound sees the quintet incorporating elements of jangle pop, psychedelia, dream pop and Brit Pop to firmly establish a hook and groove-driven, genre-defying sound.

Spiral Bound‘s first single, the Ben Hozie-produced “Keep Comin’ Up” draws from Happy Mondays-era Madchester scene, late 80s and early 90s shoegaze and 60s psych rock, while showcasing the band’s unerring knack for mind-bending, euphoric grooves and catchy hooks.

Directed by Sam Blieden, the accompanying video for “Keep Comin’ Up” draws from the 1960s art scene — and in particular, nods to Andy Warhol‘s Silver Factory and footage of The Velvet Underground. It captures a scene of folks, who are simply put, cooler and more interesting than you are.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: NYC’s Diary Shares Hooky “Acid Coffin”

Rising Brooklyn-based indie outfit Diary — Kevin Bendis (vocals, keys), Chris Croarkin (guitar, vocals), High Waisted‘s Jessica Louise Dye (guitar, vocals), Two Man Giant Squid‘s Yan Kogan (bass) and Adam Sachs (drums) — can trace their origins to a shared love of jangle-pop, shoegaze, dream pop and psychedelia.

The Brooklyn-based band is keeping the momentum going after touring to support their well-received Kanine Records debut, The Cutting Garden EP with their recently released follow-up Speedboat EP.

“Loosely inspired by Renata Adler’s novel of the same name, Speedboat is an EP about living in New York City and the neuroses that come with it,” the members of Diary explain. “We’ve always been an NYC band but never fully explored what that meant to us. Living here and playing music here there’s a ceaseless oscillation between anxiety and anticipation. Even as you sleep and dream about the buildings and the hum of the street.

“Musically, we turned to Sister-era Sonic Youth, early Dinosaur Jr, Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Methadrone, Swirlies and Drop Nineteens,” they add. “But at the end of the day, we just love big pop songs that run super loud and fuzzy.”

The recently released EP’s latest single “Acid Coffin” is a hook-driven synthesis of slacker pop, shoegaze and jangle pop that reminds me of 120 Minutes-era MTV alt rock — but with a subtly modern production sheen.