Photo by John Lee

Newly signed to Topshelf Records and ready to put the closeup on their smeared “mascara moshpit”, Ekko Astral are unapologetically themselves with “baethoven”, their proper introduction to reaching spaces beyond just the D.C. scene with their raptured buzz of hard-charged post-punk. They’ve arrived at a time when there really isn’t anyone else to challenge that notion either, as their adrenaline-fueled symphony fills a void left all these years after the departure of Priests and whereabouts unknown of Control Top, though each of these artists’ reserves their own stamp of execution on a razor-sharp livewire and call to arms. For Ekko Astral’s Jael Holzman, she and guitarists Liam Hughes and Sam Elmore, bassist Guinevere Tully, and drummer Miri Tyler are relatable comrades against the capitalist drudge through their shouted squalor. “The pain of being myself / At the open office / On a Friday when nobody’s around / Yellin’ I’ll circle back / To the cataracts,” she sings. “ICYMI, the earth’s coming down / And I’m throwing a fit at the luncheon / But I ain’t calling it quits here for nothing.” Bottling all that up is no way to go, though, and in letting it all out, she owns her permission to be as is. If you’re going to put in the work to get through the pain of existing, you may as well get yours where it’s deserved.

Directed by: July Brown & Bug Adams

Ekko Astral’s “baethoven” single is available now on Topshelf Records.