An Early Look at Sonar Mallory’s Bitter Waltz – “Small Everyone” from Carry the Branches
It’s a rare day that I feel compelled to write about music that I can’t even share with you yet, but the first single from Zombie Telegram, an upcoming EP from Brooklyn based queer indie rocker Sonar Mallory – aka Carry the Branches – is worthy of the buzz. Due out in early August, it’ll be the first of monthly single drops leading up the EP’s release.
The EP is a 5 song blends of 80s alternative, 90s college rock, early 00s emo and indie, and ageless pop sensibilities. With a sound that seems as much influenced by Bowie as by Polyphonic Spree as by the projects of Frank Black as by Sufjan Stevens as by the Beatles, Carry the Branches feels like a playground in which indie rockers, glam trash, pop stars, and shoegazers all co-exist together in harmony. Sometimes fuzzed out or grimy, sometimes clean and traditionally pretty, the aesthetic isn’t a simple genre label or subset of artists – but rather a broad and widely influenced melting pot that creates a unique chicken soup for the souls of fans of Porno for Pyros, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, My Bloody Valentine, Lou Reed, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs alike. If you’re a wee bit left of center or deep into the underground or anywhere in between, this is an EP that’s most certainly for you.
Sadly, we’re several months off from the full EP release, but we’re inching closer to the release of “Small Everyone”, a song that Donar described as a “bitter waltz”:
“Small Everyone” is about a difficult time period with my partner. I originally wrote it as a very sweet love song and then we hit a rough patch and the song morphed into this sad, bitter waltz. I definitely made him listen to it while I was still mad, and he grit his teeth and gave me the same support he always does about my songwriting process. So now I will write a new sweet love song for him.
An accurate description, this “bitter waltz” is dark, pained, and beautiful. It’s a great starting point for he forthcoming EP and the already record 2 more EPs following it. Sonar’s vocals, the woozy and infectious musical backdrop, and the emotive lyrics all work together to create one of the most beautiful tracks on the EP – which ranges from some harder, fuzzier, more guitar driven indie rock to more ballad inspired, slowed down, and sometimes trippy numbers… and even to tracks that flow to both of these ends within the same song. Yet, it feels very fitting that the first single will be this fantastic blend of love song and painful lament.
In the coming months, you can expect to see this song and this EP discussed more and more here on The Farsighted, as this EP easily has the potential of being the release of 2023.
Save “Small Everyone” on Spotify and check out a preview over at carrythebranches.com.
