Born out of their drummer Evan’s bedroom studio, Steel Wool has been making waves across the southland with plenty of local radio love, including shoutouts from KCRW and a live session at KXLU. The group, consisting of Sean Lissner (guitar/singing), Jaden Amjadi (bass/screaming), Sam Schlesinger (guitar), and Evan Landi (drums), has developed a reputation for their boisterous live shows in garages, backyards, and DIY haunts of all stripes. The band’s self-titled debut EP was released on April 10.
With a big buzz around the band heading into their recently released EP, Steel Wool’s self-titled effort is the punctuation to the band’s meteoric rise. If you’re wondering why the young band is generating such excitement for themselves, look no further than “Heaven or La Brea,” the moving highlight from Steel Wool’s EP. The nearly seven-minute odyssey is a warping introduction to the band’s refreshing approach to shoegaze, a genre that has been exploding with new talent recently. Steel Wool separates themselves from their peers by never leaving a lofty vision untouched. Instead, the band blends their psychedelic visions with traditional shoegaze to unearth the nuances of these sonic worlds they craft, leaving the listener an immersive universe to explore. In this universe, Steel Wool uses lush vocals that bleed into their complex guitar melodies to create a palpable tune that continually evolves while staying grounded with vulnerable lyrics. “Heaven or La Brea” is a poetically unique piece of shoegaze from Steel Wool, a band that is just starting what is already shaping up to be an impactful discography.
