Early Eyes
Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Album: Look Alive, out February 25 via Epitaph Records
“Look alive” is a phrase that loosely translates to being alert and present, and it’s very clear that Early Eyes heed that message loud and clear. While there are a host of bands that aim to marry alternative music ideas with traditional catchy pop templates, this band of Minnesotans uniquely understands the value of going all in on the notions of what it means to be “different” and “catchy.” The sheer quantity of ideas throughout Look Alive is daunting (synthpop, funk, emo, Michael Jackson, horror film scores), but it’s the quality that’s most impressive. This is an album filled with bops of the highest order.
Vocalist Jake Berglove shares how they accomplished this:
“I think we really wanted to redefine what our artistic values were in the music world. Before Look Alive!, we were really trying to become career musicians, and although that is still a long-term goal of ours, the pandemic really exacerbated the creeping influence of capitalism on art for us. It is harder than ever before in modern history to make a livable income in the U.S., and we really had to weigh the value of our labor versus the value of what was (capital T) True to us as artists. We kind of set out to make an album that explored that dichotomy. An album that was true to our love of ‘pop’ music but was also true to our love of fucked-up music. I think we primarily wanted to make a record that made it clear that everybody who worked on these songs really and truly loves the process of making music, and we can’t sacrifice that love to continue an unsustainable culture/economy in the world of creativity.”
Listen to “Dying Plant” here:
For more from Early Eyes, find them on Facebook, Instagram, and their official website.
Photo courtesy of Early Eyes and Albie Sher
