Photo by James Rene

Look, we’re all aware of it by now: there’s a shit ton of shoegaze and shoegaze-adjacent indie rock happening right now, and it’s not stopping any time soon. Instead of nihilistically choosing to ignore it, you can also just embrace it while its here, because who knows — in five years, the worst possible, most unlistenable genre trend might be oversaturating the scene. Hell, we may not even be here for that matter.

This is long-winded way of saying that a smaller profile band like Los Angeles five-piece Host Family can be easy to overlook — and conflated into the equation — if you aren’t paying close attention to their unique execution with the right mindset. They vibe well with their local DIY scene’s natural instincts in creating noisy pop beyond the usual grainy distortion and static clusters that makes them like-minded to Mo Dotti and Shaki Tavi in spirit, yet similarly putting their own shape on it — in their case, sonically notating bookish indie rock within their musical dialogue.

That’s clearly stated on “Explain It To Me”, a new track from the band’s forthcoming expanded reissue of last year’s Extended Play EP for Pleasure Tapes and Candlepin Records. Vocalist Imogen Lolos is serenely hexed over the listen’s stylistically vexed push and pull between a jangle-pop center and the grungy, spiral-bound spine reinforcing it. Their language of sound is many, and that’s what should draw you into the conversation.

Directed by: Jedd Caballero

Host Family’s Extended Play will be released February 24th on Candlepin Records / Pleasure Tapes.