Despite possessing the swirling tempestuous music and keening, plaintive vocals of such first-wave stalwarts as Sunny Day Real Estate, Mineral and Rainer Maria, Houston Texas’ football, etc. were a relatively unheralded part of the emo revival. It wasn’t until their third full full-length, 2017’s Corner, that the band became anything approaching a household name. Hopefully, Overo, the new project featuring Lindsay and Mercy from football, etc. won’t have to wait as long for the same level of recognition.

The band’s demo Cold Concrete/Shattered makes a strong case for Overo to have a shorter path to wide acclaim. Fans of football, etc. will instantly recognize Lindsay’s washing guitar tones, but there’s a cathartic release to hear them morph suddenly into more jagged aggressive riffs. Similarly the interplay between the clean vocal melodies and the lower register screams broadens the dynamic pallet and gives the band a lot of room to go from light to heavy and back.

For all of Overo’s established roots (in addition to Lindsay and Mercy, drummer John is from the Houston-based indie pop band Rose Ette) the demo retains a very raw feeling. Not so much that the production or composition lacks polish, but that the band has a very organic, DIY feeling that typifies an older iteration of the screamo genre, before flat-irons and crabcore. Overo sound like someone’s surprise favorite discovery at a basement show that they only attended to support a friend’s band.

Side projects can sometimes feel bogged down by the baggage of their members’ more well-known band and I know I’m not doing much to help that here. Overo’s demo is that of a band that doesn’t need to lean on anyone else’s resume. It’s full of promise that I can’t wait to hear pay off as an EP or a full record. That said, anyone who enjoys football,etc. would be seriously missing out if they didn’t give Overo a listen.