Enumclaw is a Tacoma-based band with high aspirations. With acclaim from Pitchfork, KEXP, Stereogum, and more, garage rockers Aramis, Eli, Nathan, and Ladaniel are clearly on the right path. Enumclaw recently added to their repertoire of raw and authentically emotional indie rock with their newest 5-song EP, “Jimbo Demo”.
The new project tackles concepts like coming-of-age, nostalgia, and living up to yourself, with the band’s own unique brand of candidly powerful indie rock. It feels like the goal of Enumclaw is to strip away all performative facades and deliver a musical product that sounds human and shares genuine, confessional stories.
Notable moments include the opener, “Cents”; and while the song is just under two minutes long, frontman Aramis gives us a fleshed-out story of longing for the magic of his youth. The track features reverb-heavy guitars and steady, marching drums – details that are central to the instrumentation throughout the whole EP.
On “Fast N All”, the band brings a lot to the table, both instrumentally and thematically. The track confronts the struggle of being simultaneously underwhelmed and overwhelmed by the day-to-day of life, and the struggle to find where you belong. It’s hard not to feel like the whole project’s emotional ethos is captured by the song’s central line, “It’s always too much or it’s never enough”.
If you like music that sidesteps bells and whistles in favor of honest songwriting and unfiltered delivery, you need to give Enumclaw a try.
