EMPATH FIND A SURREAL NEW WORLD OF SOUND
EARLY IN 2020, Catherine Elicson had a realization: She didn’t care about sounding cool. “I was like, ‘I want to write songs that maybe aren’t as punk,’ ” says Elicson, who sings and plays guitar in Philly’s Empath. “I wanted to write the songs I wanted to write instead of trying to fit in.” Most listeners first got to know Empath through the joyfully anarchic noise of 2018’s Liberating Guilt and Fear cassette, which is still some of the most fun you can have with a tape deck and 16 free minutes. Onstage, the four-piece band — rounded out by drummer Garrett Koloski, synthesizer player Randall Coon, and keyboardist Jem Shanahan — established itself as a hyper-speed blur of sound. On Visitor, Empath’s second LP, the melodies are brighter and the words are clearer, with a soft surrealism inspired by David Bowie’s Low. It’s their first project recorded with an outside producer, Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Jake Portrait: “He was like, ‘This should be slower,’ ” Koloski recalls with mock horror. “And I was like, ‘ How?!’ ” In fact, Empath were more than up to the challenge, and you can hear the months they spent diligently developing their sound during the pandemic. “Before, we were chaotic and noisy and catchy,” Koloski adds. “Now it’s chaotic and noisy and catchy — but it’s also beautiful.” SIMON VOZICK-LEVINSON