Shy Child

To sound this big with only two guys and two instruments is simply crazy. Brooklynites Pete Cafarella and Nate Smith bring the huge prog rock synth punk with only a set of drums and a guiboard (or keytar, if you prefer), way harder and faster and with more dance charge than Cafarella’s unsatisfying other band, El Guapo. The EP starts with a bang — their heaviest-hitting slow-building head-nodder, "You’re All Aglow,” before launching into an arena rock ballad, guiboard style. The rest of the EP spans more calculated technical moments with soaring dark electronic swoons and Cafarella’s on-point and well-suited vocal speak-sing style as well as classic-y rock moments that always bust out in a grand form that has a sneaky way of growing on you. And this is only an EP — just wait for the full-length. This is tough feel-good shit.