Tuesday 3/9: Home Is Where—"sewn together from the membrane of the great sea cucumber"
Today, we share our thoughts on a new song by the Florida emo-ish band Home Is Where.
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. Three days of the week are free but you can get access to all five weekly posts by subscribing for $5/month via Substack or $2/month via our Patreon.
Today, we share our thoughts on a new song by the Florida emo-ish band Home Is Where.
Home Is Where—"sewn together from the membrane of the great sea cucumber"
Eli Enis:
The new EP from Florida’s Home Is Where is the best emo project I’ve heard in long time. I’m typically into disrupters, bands who approach a given genre with a deconstructionist attitude, and what this band does in six songs sounds like them tearing down the last decade of emo and building it back up again, sand castle-like. The first two tracks could be mistaken for a long-lost Elephant 6 band and the last track is acoustic, so that leaves three tracks on the project that I’d even consider certifiably emo.
"sewn together from the membrane of the great sea cucumber" is my favorite of the lot. It begins as the sort of atmospheric, TWIABP-esque slow-burner I’m a sucker for, and then nose-dives into churning screamo; harried shrieks, whirring rhythm guitar, and a really great, spindly bassline. It’s heavy as fuck but it’s also very melodically deft. In some ways it almost reminds me of the end of Built To Spill’s “Broken Chairs”—you know, if it was recorded in a basement coated in anime posters. The lyrics are pretty steeped in allegory, but given that the record is dedicated to anyone who’s struggling with their gender identity, I interpret lines like, “standing on squares of sod not yet lawn,” to be about being stuck in the process of transformation, but not yet fully transformed. I think this band is going to be really, really, really important.
Eric Bennett:
After seeing a good amount of hype around I Became Birds, I was glad to finally have something to force me to give it a spin, like this newsletter. I love how this song slowly builds, and feels dark and vast as it does. Up until it unleashes into hellish screams, it reminds me of the Goalie’s Anxiety… album from last year by way of Greet Death. Once this track fully gets set in motion, though, it’s an excellent slice of chaos for a while, but interestingly settles back down, revealing quavering strings in the backdrop. It’s like you’ve watched the world burn down, and have lasted to see the calm of the dust settling.