The D.C.-area band SleepMarks consists of three veterans of local bands, but with each musician switching to a new instrument. The unexpected energy this brings to the resulting music is something special, and the group's debut EP, Evaporating Haze, confirms the arrival of a new power trio here.
Bassist James Smith and drummer Pierre Davis are both guitarists in other outlets, while Fred Burton, drummer for Gist, is the singer and guitarist here. "Confrontation" is hard post-punk, the sort of thing we all loved in the Nineties and continue to love if we're honest about it, while "The Periphery" is a bit better. A neat, jazzy tune, this one, along with the surging "New Ballad of Aging" are the highlights here. For all their fire, SleepMarks add some subtleties to their attack, with "Underground" betraying a debt owed to both Green River and Afghan Whigs, if that makes sense. These compositions force references like that, and I enjoyed the way this material took familiar forms and updated them with hints of improvisation and experimentation.
Evaporating Haze by SleepMarks is out now.