Monday 11/9: Clearbody—"Quarterback"
Today, we share our thoughts on a new song by the North Carolina shoegaze band Clearbody.
Welcome to Endless Scroll, the brainchild of Eli Enis (he/him) and Eric Bennett (they/them). Since Feb. 2019, we’ve been a weekly podcast about music, the internet, and where those two things intersect. Now we’re, also a M-F newsletter about songs. Our format is simple: a link to a song and a short take from each of us about what we think of it. Each day of the week has a corresponding genre: Monday is indie, Tuesday is punk, Wednesday is hip-hop, Thursday is pop, and Friday is misc.
Today, we share our thoughts on a new song by the North Carolina shoegaze band Clearbody.
Clearbody—"Quarterback"
Eric Bennett:
“Quarterback” is a song in two acts, despite its four-minute runtime. The first ratchets up its own anxiety with each passing second, galloping to the point of exhaustion. Then comes the exhale from the second half. I see it as a mirror of most of the runs I go on. Bursts of overexertion broken up by wildly catching my breath, walking it off. Vocalist Eric Smeal masterfully steers the song through choppy water, remaining stoic in his delivery no matter the environment in which it’s placed. I love the guitars on this track, they are sharp, but they don't feel overly clean. It makes for nice interplay with Smeal’s steely voice.
Eli Enis:
I can reveal that the Clearbody record (out in December) is one of the coolest shoegaze albums I’ve heard this year, and you can get an idea of just how cool it is by listening to “Quarterback”. The Charlotte, NC band sound like a cross between Floral Green-era Title Fight and early DIIV—two parallel music worlds that didn’t conjoin until the mid-late 2010s despite their ripe crossover potential. “Quarterback” is what happens when streaky, motorik shoegaze gets infected with just a tad of gruff emo, and that breakdown during its second half even has a heavy slowcore chug to it. There’s a lot going on here but it’s all sounds pretty simple when it comes out of the speakers, which is one of its strongest assets. Equally accessible and musically interesting, Clearbody are an act to keep an eye on.