“I had no intention to ever write any sort of anti-establishment songs,” admits Roe Kapara, the incisive songwriter hailing from Los Angeles by way of St. Louis. “I think it’s just the shock of living right now.” With half a million monthly Spotify listeners sharing his sense of hopelessness about the world they've inherited, Kapara translates the frustrations of coming of age in modern America into five sharp-witted songs on his EP Big Cigars and Satin Shorts. In this second release under Epitaph Records, Kapara marries a radical punk ethos with electrifying indie-rock spirit, offering a poignant reflection of how an entire generation of desensitized, bleeding-heart young people are feeling.
SPIRIT!, the third LP from HUNNY, is all about embracing the weird. It’s an album born from uncertainty and built on instinct – a testament to breaking free, starting over and blocking out the external noise. Now solely the project of longtime frontman Jason Yarger, HUNNY has shed its past shape to become something more fully itself. Fundamentally, the Epitaph-released SPIRIT! doesn’t reinvent the wheel for HUNNY as much as it keeps it rolling forward on a blend of hooky post-punk, gleaming synths and shout-along choruses. Yarger wrote and recorded the album almost entirely in his LA home studio, emptying his voice memos and Notes app of in-the-moment observationalism and off-the-cuff inspiration – all combining to strike the perfect balance between irreverent humor and indie-rock chic. It’s yet another chameleonic turn for HUNNY, long known for shapeshifting through genres and decades with style on fan favorites like 2019’s Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. and 2023’s new planet heaven – all while still sounding unmistakably like itself. For Yarger, the process of making SPIRIT! ultimately marks a pivotal shift, not just creatively, but in how he envisions the future of HUNNY. Free from compromise, he’s able to follow his instincts, allowing his music to unfold in unexpected ways. “I'm trying to be less precious with my songwriting,” he says. “I don't want anything to sound like HUNNY at this point – or, I simultaneously want nothing and everything to sound like HUNNY.”