Comprised of founding members Ryan Walker (guitar) and Alex Hartman (bass) along with Suki San (vocals), the Los Angeles, CA-based post-punk trio Second Still initially formed when its founding duo met in 2007. Fast forward to 2011, and the duo relocated to New York — and at that point, they had written and recorded over 100 instrumental demos, which were inspired by French coldwave and No Wave. Walker and Hartman spent a great deal of time searching high and low for a vocalist that they felt could match their intensity and creative output. And as the story goes, when they met Suki San, the newly constituted trio felt an immediate connection.
Second Still’s first show was an infamous party at the now-condemned McKibbin Street Lofts that was shut down by the police during the band’s second song. Building upon the buzz of that incident, the band recorded their debut EP, Early Forms as a limited edition cassette, which quickly sold out. Making the most of their time, the members of the trio wrote and recorded the material that eventually comprised their 2017 self-titled, full-length debut — and from singles “Walls,” “Recover,” “You Two So Alike,” and “Strangers,” the album’s material thematically focused on decidedly post-modern subjects: depression, frustration, anxiety and alienation among a throbbing, seething mass of humanity, with a visceral emotionality while sonically drawing from Sixousie and the Banshees.
Equals, the Los Angeles-based post punk trio’s much-anticipated follow-up EP finds the band expanding upon their sound, pushing it towards new directions — while retaining some of the early elements that first caught the attention of the blogosphere and elsewhere. You’ll see hear the chorus and delay pedal effected guitar, sinuous bass-driven grooves and industrial-like drum machine beats paired with ethereal vocals and infectious, razor sharp hooks; however, the members of the band have begun employing the use of a couple of analog synthesizers, which adds an atmospheric element to their sound. Additionally, roughly half of the EP’s material (the A side) reportedly finds he band exploring a decidedly pop-orientated, lighter sound while the other half (the B side) find site band hewing towards the melancholy and gloomy roots. The EP’s latest single “Opening” is a decidedly melancholy, post-punk track that features the shimmering, chorus and delay pedal effected guitar lines, sinuous bass lines, industrial-like drum programming and ethereal vocals — and while further cementing their reputation for a sound heavily indebted to Siouxsie and the Banshees, with a gritty and visceral emotionality that belies its clean, modern production sheen.
