tuesday nite – to just exist
Sometimes, a record feels less like a collection of songs and more like a place you can visit. The new EP from Buffalo’s tuesday nite, to just exist, is one of those places. It’s a room filled with hazy, drifting smoke, where reverb-soaked guitars and echo-laden harmonies hang in the air. Over four tracks, singer-guitarists Sara Elizabeth and Courtney Ann have built a sound that channels the ghosts of 90s dream-pop groups like Mazzy Star and The Sundays while remaining firmly planted in the contemporary indie sphere they so admire. to just exist is our album of the week.
tuesday nite is the kind of band that could only have formed in the strange quiet of 2020. Bonding over virtual open mics and a shared love for the raw-nerve songwriting of Phoebe Bridgers, Sara and Courtney developed an immediate chemistry that feels palpable on this recording. That intimate, two-voice core is the engine of the band, while the rhythm section of Matthew Thomas (drums) and Tom Varco (bass) keeps the dreamy explorations from floating away entirely. The outfit as a whole carves themselves a distinct sound on this record: jangly shoegaze / dream pop, even a little jammy at times.
The EP kicks off with “c song,” a five-minute mood piece that patiently simmers and builds without ever truly boiling over. Jangly, arpeggiated guitars chime through a wash of reverb as the duo’s voices melt together, singing of a love that slips through your fingers “like mist on the water.” It’s immediately followed by the welcome indie-pop sunshine of “stay the course,” a track that dials up the tempo and recalls the effortless jangle of The Sundays, proving the band can craft a breezy, head-nodding tune just as effectively as slow-burning lament.
“stone house” is a standout, a gorgeous drift of chilly, atmospheric pop. The track’s gentle chord progression and hazy delivery feel like a spiritual cousin to Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You,” yet it builds into a thicker, more shoegaze-inflected texture. the EP closes with “presence,” a track that starts as a quiet confession of guitar and vocal harmonies before the full band drops in around the minute mark. This one features the album’s title and mission statement within the lyrics: “to just exist, that is enough.”
For an EP written by a duo that shares songwriting duties, to just exist flows beautifully. Their shared appreciation of influences is apparent and brings a cohesion to the four songs that would normally be tough to pull off for two songwriters working as one. There’s a certain telepathy in the way their voices blend, a strange comfort in the way the instrumentation recalls a 90s summer, and some really great moments on the EP where the whole thing just lifts right off the ground.
Categorised in: Album of the Week
This post was written by Ronald Walczyk