NATL PARK SRVC

"Minneapolis quartet NATL PARK SRVC have released their debut EP, OLIVER. The three-track release contains pre-release single "GARAGE." It's a great start for a promising band.

Opener "ANALOG" kicks off in an all-caps nature fitting to the band's name. It's a mid-tempo shredder with drums that crash like waves and shouted vocals. An unaware listener might expect the song to resort to a played-out indie rock palette. The lyrics disprove that instantly. They are candid and emotionally frank in a way that betrays the loose emo influence hanging over the EP as a whole.

The other tracks, "GRUDGE" and "GARAGE," are much more subdued, and even better. The former hypnotizes with a plaintive guitar line and stays under the radar (at least before the lyric "I peace like I'm Gandhi" - I did not expect to find late 2000s-era Nicki Minaj puns on a Twin Cities indie song). The groove sustains the life of the song, like minor key soil. A waterfall of words pour out of frontman Dylan Woytcke's mouth. The song ends with a Clapton-esque blues solo - another unexpected surprise. "GARAGE" opens with another understated riff that sounds awfully close to "The Sound of Silence" (???). Momentum is gained slowly as the song becomes a bit of a warm-blooded drunk. It sways and staggers. Double-tracked vocals gush over Josue Hernandez's drums.

Tiny specks of weirdness show up in NATL PARK SRVC's songs, like sunspots that grow and shrink over time. Yet again, I'll mention how unexpected these things can be. All three songs on OLIVER settle into themselves early on, which could be a bad thing. Fortunately, it isn't. The rhythms seize up so as to allow the listener's focus to wander elsewhere, to the lyrics, to the strange effect-laden harmonies, to the snippets of dissonance. There's something to find with each listen.

OLIVER is out now. Listen below." - Ear Coffee