Beach Glass – Closure
Who would have ever thought that a band making real music would be… refreshing? Beach Glass is a Buffalo-based duo doing just that. Harkening back to the halcyon days of Tascam recorders, honest feelings, and no autotune, their latest offering is the five-song Closure. Supremely ’90s-influenced and sincere as all get out, these songs are sure to end up on some obscure IG post touting the latest and greatest in real emo… We’ll put it this way – fans of bands with a Kinsella brother in them are going to like Beach Glass.
Opening song “Second Largest City (In New York)” is an ode to Buffalo in all its rotting, rusty glory. Twanging guitars stumble over rolling drums. Heartfelt vocals sing and scream about the (arguably) dilapidated state of our beautiful city – and it’s hard not to notice the parallel’s to the singer’s mindset. Sure, talking to therapists and taking pills doesn’t change the weather or the crumbling old houses. But our city’s got history… In fact, we’ve all got history, and that’s something worth preserving.
You’ll find lots of Buffalo-centric themes throughout Closure. “What Happened To August?” is something every Buffalonian has said once or twice in their lives – and while we certainly all need to get better at making the most of our precious summers, “What Happened To August?” chronicles what a typical day might look like. Smoking weed in the basement, eating food, being out of cash and gas simultaneously – even when you’re sad, isn’t that what life’s all about? Here, Beach Glass are at their most harmonious, tossing in some catchy melodies over a classic chord progression. If you start anywhere on the EP, start here.
Throughout the rest of the EP, Beach Glass crystallizes their identity with different forms of emo driven by smeared guitars and their trusty drum accompaniment – the snare-powered “In The Basement” feels wry and raw, while the uncanny imagery conjured by “An Orange Rugrats Tape” helps to nail down the project’s nostalgic roots. By the time you make it through EP closer “The Spot I Hang My Hammock Sank Into Lake Ontario,” you’ll feel sad (in a good way) and happy that someone else is going through the proverbial “it” too. “My mind is fucking shattered / it fucking splattered when I hit the wall.” Lines like this are what drives real emo music – at least with bands like Beach Glass, we can all feel splattered *together.*
Closure is out as of May 1st, 2026. You can find all the different ways to stream / support Beach Glass here.
Categorised in: Album of the Week
This post was written by Nick Sessanna