Photo by Vice Cooler

Mom, dad… we’re bicoastal. And perhaps that’s the reason why — safe from a few sporadic shows — we haven’t heard a blink out of Control Top since the Philadelphia post-punk trio burned fast with their 2019 debut full-length, Covert Contracts. But not all is lost in the fire, as members Alan Creedon (now based on Los Angeles) and Alex Lichtenauer (still in Philly!) have reignited as Index, a super heavier industrial punk amalgamation that sounds absolutely more massive than you’d wager for two humans smashing drums and guitars.

Production artillery from heavy music studio guru Arthur Rizk as well as channeling the vibes of Show Me the Body by recording it inside their Corpus Studio probably has something to do with the extra intensity being squeezed uncomfortably yet intentionally tight against its surface on their debut single “Cellophane”. “Blisters pressed into the lace / Perfume sprayed across the stain / Halfway present, half erased / Cellophane around the shame,” it plasters all over static discharge attempting to break free. For a song about “self-deception and the rituals we perform to convince ourselves we’re holding it together,” it leaves little room for error.

Index’s “Cellophane” is available now on Get Better Records.