In their roughly four-year run, SMALL has gone from a scrappy, always agitated lo-fi punk trio to an equally frenzied if slightly more polished group capable of pushing their music in surprising new directions. 2022’s Decathexis was particularly revelatory, showcasing a band that better understood pacing and how a slow simmer can outlast a raging boil. Across eight torrid tracks, SMALL thrashed and seethed, laying the groundwork for vocalist and guitarist Samm Severin to rant, rave, grieve, repent, leer, and lust—sometimes in the span of a single song.
Now, with the emergence of a new two-song single, SMALL appear poised to continue their evolution. Opening in a caustic swirl of booming drums and feedback, “Telephone” strides forward with grim determination. The slithering riff and muted dynamics are almost stark in their simplicity, but there’s a coiling intensity that ripples throughout. Much of that potency can be attributed to Severin’s withering vocals, which turn frustration and ennui into an acidic cauldron of social despondency: “I try hard to be impressed / I try to follow till the end / I don’t get tired, I get bored / I don’t need anything but more.”
Meanwhile, “Cosmos” is the sort of lurching, punch-drunk missive the band has hinted at but never quite pulled off until now. It’s kinetic and insistent, even as the staggering guitars threaten to drag you into the song’s beleaguered undertow. Severin’s songwriting has always gravitated towards the dark, messy, and personal and here she digs deeper, processing past trauma in a manner that feels intimate and necessary. When the gang vocals chime in, demanding “Can we rest yet?,” it alludes to collective suffering and the exhaustion it breeds. Whether that shared pain is a cathartic salve or cause for further despair is a matter of perspective. Severin herself leaves the question open, although the defiant sneer in her voice sounds awfully liberating.
As the first songs to feature new drummer Trevor Flanders, who replaces the departed Jake Cook, the “Telephone” single is a triumph. The band sounds as urgent as ever, only with a bit more fiery menace in their step. Flanders also handled recording and mixing duties for the single, which could explain some of the music’s added heft. Ultimately, however, SMALL remains Severin’s show to run. Although the threesome, which includes bassist Olive Lynch, seems to have found another gear, it is Severin’s willingness to lay bare her innermost desires, faults, and fears that make their songs so fascinating.
Listen below.
SMALL will celebrate the release of “Telephone” b/w “Cosmos” tomorrow night, June 29, at the EARL with support from fellow locals Fun Isn’t Fair and Scare Quotes. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $13. 21+ to enter.
More Info
Bandcamp: smalltheband.bandcamp.com
Instagram: @smalltheband