Photo by Hayden Molinarolo

“favor” is a song about putting everybody first except for yourself, and does right by the exhaustion of it all in its woozy pop fever dream. Shady Bug – the St. Louis experimental indie rock band of guitarist and vocalist Hannah Rainey, guitarist Ripple, bassist Chris Chartrand, and in the studio with them on this go-around, drummer Jack Mideke of Smidley – are temperamental to that touch in those (e)motions on the latest preview from their forthcoming EP, What’s the Use?, as their blend of bending guitar-pop churns through lush segues and abrupts harsher walls. “Step out out of body, step out of it out of habit / Up and down controlling pull my sleeves, devoted after one sip / Someone drag me, force me to get over it,” Rainey sings as she slips away in her service. After awhile, it’s hard to see yourself in the mirror when you’re just living a life for others, and this listen is like drowning in the reflection pool.

Shady Bug’s What’s the Use? will be released June 30th on Exploding In Sound Records.