Scowl have announced a new album, Are We All Angels, will drop on April 4th via Dead Oceans, their debut release for the label, (Japanese Breakfast, Phoebe Bridgers). Produced by Will Yip (Turnstile, Mannequin Pussy), who worked on their previous LP, the Psychic Dance Routine EP. The album was mixed by Rich Costey (Fiona Apple, My Chemical Romance, Vampire Weekend, etc..). An album marked by alienation, grief, and the loss of control, much of it grapples with their newfound place in the hardcore scene, a community that has both embraced the band and made them something of a lightning rod over the past few years. The first single, “Not Hell, Not Heaven,” outright rejects the narratives cast onto them by outsiders. “It’s about feeling victimized and being a victim, but not wanting to identify with being a victim,” explains vocalist / front woman Kat Moss. “It’s trying to find grace in the fact that I have my power. I live in my reality. You have to deal with whatever you’re dealing with, and it ain’t working for me”. The song arrives with a Sean Stout-directed video, filmed at 924 Gilman in Berkeley—the venue where Moss, guitarist Malachi Greene and drummer Cole Gilbert first met, planting the seed for what would become Scowl a year later.

Moss cites a wide array of influences outside the realm of hard rock—everything from Billie Eilish to Radiohead, Car Seat Headrest to Julien Baker. “The majority of us were really not proficient musicians when this band started,” she admits. “It was very Germs-esque in that way, like baby’s first hardcore band, which is awesome. But now, we still might not know what we’re doing, but we have a better idea of what we want to do.” Instrumentally the band cites influence from Negative Approach, Bad Brains, Hole, Mudhoney Garbage, Ramones, Pixies, Sonic Youth, Rocket From The Crypt among others. Bassist Bailey Lupo notes “The song writing on the new record was the most collaborative to date in Scowl’s history. Everyone brought so many ideas to the table and we were able to dissect it all and take our time. We all have such eclectic tastes, influences and personalities and you can really hear that in every corner on this album.”

Even through this more eclectic approach, Scowl loses none of their edge and still manages to convey the anger and frustration that lies underneath. They are deeply committed to carrying the ethos of punk and its sense of community. “Hardcore and punk have sculpted how we operate, what we want to do as a band, and how we participate,” says Greene. “At our core, we are a punk and a hardcore band, regardless of how the song shifts and changes.”

Scowl
Are We All Angels
Tracklist

Special
B.A.B.E
Fantasy
Not Hell, Not Heaven
Tonight (I’m Afraid)
Fleshed Out
Let You Down
Cellophane
Suffer The Fool (How High Are You?)
Haunted
Are We All Angels

Pre-order Are We All Angels by Scowl HERE