Back in 2015, Battle Ave. released Year of Nod, a record which pushed the boundaries of genre, its shoegaze-inflected dream pop presenting expansive, almost orchestral arrangements filtered through the loveable prism of 90s indie rock. The result was “unpredictable and wavering,” we wrote at the time, but tied together by “a continuous thread of something peculiarly beautiful and strangely affecting,” and proved to be something of a cult hit. The intervening years saw life get in the way, with illness, parenthood and grad school just some of the obstacles faced by various members, but after six years away, the Kingston, New York outfit return this autumn with a brand new self-titled EP.
Battle Ave. is aptly named, as the release serves as a kind of post-hiatus reintroduction. Founding members Samantha Niss and Jesse Doherty are joined by Adam Stoutenburgh, John Burdick and Peter Naddeo. The project was built on the shared interests of Niss and Doherty, and it is a testament to their collaboration and vision that it has emerged from the period of absence sounding so familiar.
Doherty has described the recording process as a game of Exquisite Corpse, each member crafting various elements more or less in isolation. The style leads to richly imaginative sounds unafraid of the left-field, though what is perhaps more striking is how intuitive and fluid the final result manages to be. As though for all the distance between its members, the Battle Ave. spirit emerges intact—a product not just of shared artistic sensibility but something deeper. A persistent friendship and trust.
Lead single ‘My Year With the Wizard’ introduces just what this sounds like. A brooding approach through a cloudy atmosphere, guitars spiralling away from the drums with a style somewhere between playful and menacing. Doherty’s distinctive vocals float above all of this, soon buoyed further by an unexpected brightness, lending the track an oddly hypnotic air. A sense that extends right down to the cryptic lyrics:
My year with the wizard was a long one / you act like a friend, but you’re the wrong one I call on the phone, I need an answer / why don’t you want the truth?
Check out the video by Doherty himself below:
Battle Ave. is out on the 8th October and you can pre-order it now from Bandcamp.