Jaugust – Functional Gray
In the quiet spaces between other projects, Buffalo-based duo Jaugust refines its voice. Comprised of Anthony Del Plato and Nick Sessanna–musicians already well-known within the city’s indie circles for their work in bands like Everything In Waves, Cooler, and Genesee Hotel–Jaugust returns with Functional Gray, their sophomore EP. Self-produced in Del Plato’s home studio during moments carved out from busy schedules, this collection of songs shares a creative headspace, blending emotional indie pop with a distinct electronic pulse. Functional Gray places Jaugust in conversation with similar acts like The Postal Service and Washed Out, yet establishes their own distinct collaborative approach that expands on the emotional core of the duo’s 2023 debut. Functional Gray is our album of the week.
The new EP is built on a foundation of contrasts, where analog warmth meets digital precision. Jaugust combines digital found sounds, shimmering synths, and understated drum machines with the familiar resonance of guitars, achieving a sound that feels both polished in construction and intimate in delivery. There’s a dream-like nostalgia found within the EP’s tracks that delicately permeates the duo’s crafted electronic textures. This duality–the wistful filtered through a contemporary lens–defines Jaugust’s signature sound.
Functional Gray reveals its nuances across four carefully sequenced tracks. “Onion Field” is an inviting entry point, immediately establishing the EP’s nostalgic mood with a resonant hook and evocative lyrics hinting at a fading relationship or a home outgrown. Title track “Functional Gray” grounds itself in more of a traditional indie rock structure where synths add layers and dimension to the bass-forward verses and angular drums. The track’s dueling guitar solos offer a moment of instrumental fire. “It Still Hurts” is a captivating centerpiece, an inventive digital music box on which Sessanna’s level falsetto glides above the mix and playfully contrasts the song’s heavier lyrical content. “Daybreak” serves as a textured and rhythmically engaging conclusion that showcases the duo’s knack for compelling arrangements.
Thematically, the EP tackles the emotionally complex: longing, reflection, anticipation, big decisions. For example, the chorus of “Onion Field” alludes to the bittersweet tension between desire and resignation: “I want to fall in love / I know this place is wrong / I need someone to tell me / Will it be worth it to move on?” Similarly, in “It Still Hurts,” phrases like “Listening closely / deafening quiet / I still remember / pace through the silence / happened too quickly / I couldn’t stop it” paint vivid pictures of lingering memories and unspoken feelings. These themes build on, and seem almost an organic continuation of, those found on Jaugust’s 2023 debut Be My Echo, Always.
There’s atmosphere here, but this isn’t just music for the background; it’s a focused exploration of mood and feeling. With Functional Gray, Jaugust has solidified their place as thoughtful architects of sound, capable of weaving together the metallic with the meaningful, the past with the present. For listeners drawn to melancholic indie pop that carries both a pulse and a whisper, Functional Gray won’t cure those winter blues, but will serve as a warm reminder that you’re not the only one feeling them.
Categorised in: Album of the Week
This post was written by Ronald Walczyk