Beloved indie rock outfit ARMS unveils “Earthquake Weather” the angular, polyrhythmic second cut from their forthcoming EP2, due out 9/10 via Paper Garden Records. “Earthquake Weather”, just like the lead single “Comfort”, maintains that same caliber of tight, complex songwriting combined with the lyrical finesse we’ve come to expect from ARMS.
EP2 marks the first ARMS release since 2011’s ambitious full-length Summer Skills. This time around, ARMS loosened the reins, opening up their sound and energy to more raucous, exposed spaces. Self-recorded and self-produced, the 5-track EP is a particularly personal labor of love for frontman and songwriter Todd Goldstein, who designed the above album art as well.
ARMS | EP2
Release Date : 9/10
1. Comfort
2. Earthquake Weather
3. Sleepwalker
4. Sympathetic Strings
5. Up & Up
“I was exhausted,” says Todd Goldstein, reflecting on the years since the release of his band ARMS’ lush, ambitious 2011 album, Summer Skills. “I put everything I had into that album—creatively, emotionally—I had nothing left in me.” After spending his mid-20s playing guitar in New York’s much-loved Harlem Shakes and the ensuing years crafting two albums and an EP as ARMS, Todd took a sharp turn away from music. He went back to school to study design; he spent long afternoons throwing down in the kitchen; he looked elsewhere to find his creative kicks. Eventually though, he remembered why he can’t help but write songs. ARMS’ EP2 is the proof.
The product of a long, slow collaboration with drummer Tlacael Esparza, EP2 feels both urgent and relaxed, its five home-recorded pop songs projecting a lived-in looseness without sacrificing an ounce of tension. “Comfort,” the EP’s opening track and leadoff single, seems at first to be about music—or a girl. But, unlike most love songs that pull this double duty, the message of “Comfort” is unexpected: Neither one is a prescription for the ailments of real life.
ARMS’ EP2 is the sound of a kid with a worried mind—a frequent character in Todd’s musical universe—learning to let go at last. It only seems right that his leanest, most immediate record would finally arrive after leaving it all behind.
For those in the New York area ARMS is playing the following date:
9/10 – NEW YORK @ Mercury Lounge (EP release party!) w/ Common Prayer