Pressing Concerns: Ylayali, Good Energy Crystal, Gentleman Speaker, Megan from Work

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The second Pressing Concerns of the week gathers up four quality under-the-radar LPs from the past month or so–specifically, new albums from Ylayali, Good Energy Crystal, Gentleman Speaker, and Megan from Work. And it’s the second great blog post in as many days, too; if you missed the Monday Pressing Concerns (featuring Sassyhiya, p:ano, Smoker Dad, and Blank Banker), check that one out as well.

If you’re looking for more new music, you can visit the site directory to see what else we’ve written about lately. If you’d like to support Rosy Overdrive, you can share this (or another) post, or donate here.

Ylayali – Birdhouse in Conduit

Release date: October 16th
Record label: Circle Change
Genre: Fuzz rock, experimental, lo-fi indie rock, lo-fi pop
Formats: Vinyl, digital
Pull Track: Birdhouse

When he’s not drumming in power pop group 2nd Grade, Philadelphia’s Francis Lyons makes music on his own as Ylayali, a prolific solo-ish project with an impressive back catalog of fuzzed-out, lo-fi indie rock. I wrote about the last Ylayali album, Separation, which came out on Dear Life Records back in 2022 and is probably a fairly accessible entry point into Lyons’ dreamy, layered music. Birdhouse in Conduit is Lyons’ newest album as Ylayali; it was quietly self-released by his own Circle Change imprint in October and does…something different than Separation. Lyons pieced this album together from 2022 to 2024 at home, mostly on his own but with a few regular collaborators popping up (Katie Bennett of Free Cake for Every Creature on vocals, Will Kennedy of 22° Halo on guitar/drum machine, Jack Washburn of Remember Sports on guitar, Ben Lovell and Jason Calhoun with some more esoteric contributions), and it’s Ylayali at their most exploratory. There’s still pop music to be found in Birdhouse in Conduit, but it sits alongside ambient and droning fuzz passages, experimental electronic instrumentation, and blasts of noise. None of this gets in the way of the “core” sound of Birdhouse in Conduit and is in fact a key part of it–distortion and static have always been important to Ylayali, and this record is no different in shaping these elements into something just as emotional-sounding as the indie and folk rock hidden intermittently between them.

Keep everything I just said in mind when embarking on the journey that is Birdhouse in Conduit’s first track, “Francis Funeral Home”. The majority of the nearly ten-minute song is a wall of distortion, and it’s only after the seven-minute mark that Lyons’ voice appears and whispers some lyrics as the track takes the form of a low-key but buzzing pop song. “Francis Funeral Home” is probably the most “difficult” part of Birdhouse in Conduit, but it’s hardly the only time Ylayali challenges us–even the more recognizably-structured songs that immediately follow it, “Devil Dog” and “Birdhouse”, both find some surprising moments in their five-minute allotted timeslots. The relatively clean “Birdhouse” is jarring in its own right, and between it, in “Joy” and (ironically) “Fuzz”, Lyons is just as successful at shaping quieter sounds. I’m not sure what I’d call the most “accessible” moment on Birdhouse in Conduit, although Lyons surprisingly saves some contenders for the album’s second half between “Shadow Play” (a gorgeous gliding synth-pop instrumental, albeit with very buried vocals from Lyons) and “Spacebar” (led by a hypnotic drumbeat and some subtle, uplifting instrumentalism). I can’t emphasize enough how rewarding it is to meet Birdhouse in Conduit where it’s at–Lyons is probably one of the most trustworthy people to make a record like this deserving of one’s full attention and patience, but it’s still surprising to hear this album take shape over time. (Bandcamp link)

Good Energy Crystal – Good Energy Crystal

Release date: November 8th
Record label: Self-released
Genre: Art punk, post-punk, no wave, egg punk, jazz-punk, lo-fi punk
Formats: Cassette, digital
Pull Track: Welcome the Feeling

Evan Asher may be known to some readers of this blog as the drummer in Kalamazoo experimental/math rock group Memory Cell, but they’ve got a pretty impressive back catalog on their Bandcamp page, a pile-up of records from projects with names like A Really Big Horse, MILK KEG, and Evan11111. Their latest moniker is called Good Energy Crystal, which Asher has debuted with an eight-song self-titled album available via cassette. It appears that Asher plays everything we hear on Good Energy Crystal–the only outside contribution is vocals from Shady Bug’s Hannah Rainey on two songs. The stately, spindly indie rock of Memory Cell is nowhere to be found on Good Energy Crystal, which is some kind of weirdo lo-fi basement art punk record or something. It reminds me of weird jazz-inspired SST groups like Saccharine Trust–Asher’s flat, somewhat agitated-sounding monotone vocals are accompanied by messy, confrontational music (both Asher and their instruments sound just a bit too close for comfort)–it should be a fairly typical Midwestern post-punk/egg punk album, but there’s just something off about everything on Good Energy Crystal.

The off-kilter, slapdash jazz-punk sound marking Good Energy Crystal introduces itself in the record’s opening track, “The Swing of Things”–like in most of the album, the bass is way too prominent in the mix, the instrumentation swerves in and out of jazzy ditches, and Asher sounds rambling and angry about it. The song does in fact have something of a refrain though, and the guitar part in it is actually kind of catchy. Rainey shows up on the deconstructed, stop-start ballad “Good Energy Crystal”, duetting with Asher to sing inspirational lines like “I’m no good / I’ll never learn”, and she sticks around for the incorrect-sounding dance-funk corpse of “Me2You”. Good Energy Crystal is just getting started, though–things really get out there with the psychedelic ambient electro-pop vibes of “Head”, and the second half of the album even brings the closest thing Good Energy Crystal have to a punk song in “Days Grow Longer”. In the latter, Asher speeds up the music until it sounds like a facsimile of all those new-fangled post-punk/garage rock groups, all the while grousing “This new arrangement / Seems to be killing me” over the speedy, mechanical track. Good Energy Crystal is only about twenty-two minutes long, with the lackadaisical post-punk skittering of “Welcome the Feeling” closing the curtains of Good Energy Crystal’s first act. This kind of thing doesn’t have, let’s say, “universal” appeal, but Asher has a pretty interesting and unique take on it, and Good Energy Crystal is a worthwhile adventure for those of us who’re open to it. (Bandcamp link)

Gentleman Speaker – Hell and Somewhere Else

Release date: October 18th
Record label: Self-released
Genre: Indie pop, post-punk revival, power pop, emo-pop
Formats: Digital
Pull Track: Rise of the Hens

I’m not sure if Saint Paul, Minnesota’s Gentleman Speaker are huge Dismemberment Plan fans or if the similarities I hear between the two bands primarily have to do with the similar tone of lead singer Tim Brecht’s vocals to the unmistakable voice of Travis Morrison on those canonical indie rock LPs. Compared to the D-Plan’s bizarre new wave/post-hardcore sound, Gentleman Speaker are more clearly indebted to guitar pop and even power pop, but I think the acts share a nervousness and occasional impishness in their songs. Hell and Somewhere Else is the band’s third LP since debuting with a self-titled record in 2019 and following it up with 2021’s The Well Between Continents, and the quartet (Brecht on vocals and guitar, Adam Fekete on guitar, Jim DeYoung on bass, and Brian Dendy on drums) infuse this one with stop-start alt-rock and post-punk catchiness, equal parts offbeat new wave and sprawling guitar-centric 90s indie rock in its sensibilities. Hell and Somewhere Else comes from a group of musicians with a clear vision of “pop music” on their minds, although Gentleman Speaker’s version of it seems to come from the worlds of emo-y catharsis and pop punk steam-letting-off (even as it’s not cleanly “part” of either of those genres).

It took me a little longer to get into Hell and Somewhere Else than one would normally expect because I think opening track “Anemic Alaska” threw me a little bit. Not that its minimal “showtune opening” sheen isn’t without its charms, but it didn’t exactly prepare me for what Gentleman Speaker proceeded to put together in the tracks immediately following it–specifically the emo-y power pop of “Rise of the Hens” (featuring a surprisingly strong bassline) and the strangely catchy “dark polka” vibes of “Scratch the Surface” (again, Dismemberment Plan shades in this one). Hell and Somewhere Else is a sneakily consistent album, with nearly every song making a case for the standout on any given listen–in the more “showy” department, we’ve got “Tire Worth Kicking”, which marries its lean verses with a huge group chorus, and “Solar System”, a toe-tapping anthem that’s Gentleman Speaker at their most “indie pop”. The chilly balladry of “Epiphany” is the closest thing that Hell and Somewhere Else gets to a “subtle” moment, and the tangled-up emo guitars of “Cat Like Me” falls somewhere in between this and the more aggressive numbers. Hard-working until the end, Gentleman Speaker close things out with a big finish in “Wait for Autumn”, a song featuring a go-for-broke, all-in refrain that only grows in size–it’s maybe the most memorable moment on Hell and Somewhere Else, though it certainly has competition. It’s not “too much”, but it is much. (Bandcamp link)

Megan from Work – Girl Suit

Release date: October 4th
Record label: Self-released
Genre: Pop punk, power pop
Formats: Digital
Pull Track: City Streets and Highways

A brand new pop punk band from New England with high-energy hooky songs reminiscent of early Charly Bliss, Chumped, and All Dogs–this is the good stuff. I’m talking about Megan from Work, a quartet from Manchester, New Hampshire led by vocalist/guitarist Megan Simon and rounded out by guitarist Luis Hernandez, bassist Joey Martin, and drummer Steve Aliperta. Aside from an acoustic demo EP last year, Girl Suit is the debut release from Megan from Work, and the group have put together a confident ten-song, twenty-five minute first statement. Simon called their band “soft punk” when they emailed me this album, a descriptor that Boston’s TIFFY also uses–it’s accurate, but Megan from Work favor a more robust power pop sound, with more power chords than dreamy pop rock to be found on Girl Suit. Simon’s vocals are urgent, piercing and almost emo–they’ve got pop punk showmanship down on their first record, and the rest of Megan from Work chug along with the strength to counterbalance their ringleader. Between the band name, album title, and their entire presentation, there’s an interesting overarching examination of identity and perception permeating the entire project–but most importantly, Girl Suit rocks.

Girl Suit has more than its fair share of jolts–there’s the desperate all-on assault of opening track “WAISTD”, the slightly more restrained but even more anxious “The PIMS” (that’s “pit in my stomach”), and the crunchy, power chord-heavy the title track (which climaxes with Simon memorably declaring “I’d rather be honest than consistent”). Girl Suit is just as strong in its second half, with “City Streets and Highways” and “Mouth Breathing” being just as strong power pop singles as anything else on the record (and the latter even features a wild, show-stopping finale to close the record out). The skill of the Megan from Work band is arguably more present on some of the record’s subtler numbers–a more solo-based project might turn “I’m in I Am” and “Real Life” into quieter ballads, but with Simon’s band punching up these tracks, they end up being just as impactful as the more straightforward pop punk anthems. Of course, Megan from Work also pull off the extra-showiness of “Mouth Breathing” just as impressively–really, just about all of the brief whirlwind that is Girl Suit is a strong argument for keeping an eye on Megan from Work from here on out. (Bandcamp link)

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