Kowari is a power-pop band hailing from Tacoma, WA. Playing as a group since 2015, Pastel Bruise is their debut release, a quick four-song jaunt through the math-rock and emo-tinged pop de rigueur. Though such music can be dreary, Pastel Bruise doesn’t spend much time plumbing the genre’s emotional depths, achieving instead a detached contentedness common in dreamier rock productions. The band’s Bandcamp bio says that Kowari is the “musical equivalent of when you accidentally hit Shift five times and Sticky Keys comes up,” and that’s about how tragic it gets here.
EP opener “Sorry” begins with an insistent, slightly overdriven riff accompanied with a surprisingly groovy shuffle. Low, fuzzy lead lines intertwine with the bass, while the yelping vocals sit deep in the mix. “Sorry” will appeal to not only fans of post-emo-revival indie, but the buzzy bands of the mid-‘00s— there’s a bit of Unicorns-y bounce to the track that makes you bob your head from side to side. The chunky chorused-guitar breakdown is a great way to shake up the vibe, before crowning the track with another chorus section. As an opening statement for a band goes, “Sorry” lays out a fine blueprint. “Sweet Bumblebee” has a jerky 5/4 guitar line as its backbone, with a vocal delivery reminiscent of a Dismemberment Plan track. After a relentless first half, a descending guitar line slows things down, before a title-dropping vocal leads the whole track down into full silence. Songs with such busy arrangements can lose their impact after even a short while, so the compositional trick of breaking things up gives “Sweet Bumblebee” a pleasant ebb and flow. “Absence” is the lighter-raising moment on the record, with a gentle guitar arpeggio and a full vocal opening up into a chill groove. The cleaner guitars and simple instrumentation also give the drums a chance to shine. Splashy cymbal parts and rich fills are all over Pastel Bruise, though they’re often masked by the overdriven guitar sounds, so it’s nice to catch some of the percussion work in a clearer setting. Though the shortest track on the EP at barely more than two minutes, “Absence” works with a drastically different palette than the preceding songs, demonstrating Kowari’s talent as songwriters. “Definition” closes the record, synthesizing much of Pastel Bruise’s success into one evolving piece. Galloping drums underpin fast guitar strumming, signaling the group’s tightness in performance, before a break that gives the bass a moment alone. The song slows, speeds up and then slows again into a gentle outro. The song runs through both the warmer, sweeter vibes and frenetic breakaways that appear elsewhere on the EP, joining them into a continuous stream without losing impact. Pastel Bruise is a confident first salvo for a new band, and it’s frankly a very enjoyable listen. The worst part about it is the inevitable return to the “play” button after 13 minutes pass by. With its tendency towards overbearing introspection, the emo scene needs more joy of the kind Kowari offers, and I’m hoping to have some more of it soon.
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