Scowl, Glixen

Scowl is a band that sounds exactly like their name implies. Venomous, fierce, antagonistic. A sneer not to be crossed. Over the last five years the Santa Cruz, CA, band has firmly planted their flag in the hardcore scene with their vicious sound and ripping live show, sharing stages around the world with Circle Jerks, Touché Amoré, and Limp Bizkit, and filling slots at prominent festivals like Coachella, Sick New World, and Reading and Leeds. But with their new album, Are We All Angels, Scowl is aiming to funnel all that aggression through a more expansive version of themselves.

The album ends in a philosophical place on the closing track, “Are We All Angels,” asking questions like, “Is this all there is?” and ultimately putting it on the listener to decide. “It’s about the personal struggle between good & evil. It doesn’t matter how ‘good’ or ‘bad’ you are, there are systems that will try to rewrite your narrative no matter what you actually do,” explains Moss, noting that punctuation on “Are We All Angels” has been deliberately omitted in an attempt to leave the statement open-ended.

Arriving as a standout group in the current American shoegaze renaissance, Phoenix four-piece Glixen transcend all expectations of what the genre should currently look and sound like. The band creates a profoundly heavy sonic experience with their music, paying respects to their predecessors but resulting in something completely modern. An amalgamation of influences like Björk, My Bloody Valentine, Godflesh, t.A.T.u, and Hum, their sound crawls with intensity and introspection to contrast lead singer Aislinn Ritchie’s lulling vocals.

ALWAYS ALL-AGES