Industrial Park

Industrial Park [7-inch] (2013)

Joe Pelone

Industrial Park sound like a Gainesville band with fewer RPMs. Essentially splitting the difference between Hot Water Music and Mogwai, the group take a slow ‘n' steady approach to their punk rock. Coupling the noodling guitars with haunting vocals gives the band an almost gothic vibe.

"Echoes" opens the self-titled 7-inch, and it's also the stronger of the two tracks. It's just so heavy and haunting, gradually building into this great big wall of noise. The drums in particular lend it depth. "Echoes" is definitely a track to play on repeat. If you like feeling vaguely sad, here's your jam.

Which is why the b-side, "May," is a little disappointing. Stylistically, it's very much the same, but the dissonance is tapered down a bit. Without the heaviness in place, the song gets repetitive well before it ends. It's hard to call songs in this vein infectious given that they're more about overwhelming the senses with mood than leaving recognizable choruses. But keeping that in mind, "Echoes" is "the hit;" "May" just doesn't compare. This leaves the 7-inch at once promising and disappointing, but hopefully it's still a sign of more to come from Industrial Park.