Oakland’s Bad Visuals are following their self-released, Jack Shirley-recorded 2019 debut LP Petaluma with a new EP, Ravel, on April 30 via Acrobat Unstable, the relatively new North Carolina DIY label that just keeps signing awesome bands (like Stars Hollow, Hazing Over, awakebutstillinbed, Carpool, and more). The new EP was recorded by Sam Pura (who’s in the new Heavy Heavy Low Low offshoot Bone Cutter and has worked with Hundredth, Basement, The Story So Far, and more), and the band says they went for a “louder, darker, fuzzier” sound this time around, and that definitely comes through in the music. The production is bigger and cleaner, the band sounds tighter, and their songwriting has made a noticeable progression.

“The four of us have slowed down and grown melodically since [Petaluma],” the band says. “Ravel is a cohesive collection of tracks taking aim at making the listener feel more.”

Like on Petaluma, the new stuff offers up an emo/shoegaze blend in the vein of Title Fight, Turnover, Hum, etc, and even with this subgenre getting a little oversaturated lately, Bad Visuals manage to sound fresh. They recently released two of the EP’s four songs, “So Broken” and “Closing Doors,” and we’re now premiering a third, “Fade.” Listen to all three below and if you like what you hear, pre-order the EP here.

 

 

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28 Essential Songs from the Shoegaze / Heavy Crossover

Listen and/or subscribe to our playlist of all 28 songs (with MBV’s “Feed Me With Your Kiss” replacing “You Made Me Realise” because the latter isn’t on Spotify):