Photo by Serafina Maxima

Steel Wool made a buzzworthy first impression earlier this year behind the promise of their eponymous debut EP. It’s an entrancing smattering of noise-pop colored in stylistic influences ranging from shoegaze, dream-pop, post-hardcore, and ’90s indie rock that certainly holds a lot of promise for what’s to come from the Los Angeles four-piece. What’s to come is beginning to look a lot like right now, as on “Pressed Flat” — the A-side to a newly-released single from the band — hears guitarist and vocalist Sean Lissner, bassist Jaden Amjadi, guitarist Sam Schlesinger, and drummer Evan Landi beginning to impress these varying facets from the underground cohesively onto a single surface. The sound here shows a similar trajectory to that of the long-gone-missing Merchandise — similarly, students of the hardcore and punk scene where their creative arch began by working their way from within before pushing themselves outside the circle until distinct pop songs with a juxtaposition between crooning balladeering and loud wash of guitars revealed themselves in satisfaction to all fringe corners. Nothing about it sounds one-dimensional by any means.

Steel Wool’s “Pressed Flat” b/w “I Should Forget” is available now on Bug Body.