★★★★☆
Boston-based group Model/Actriz have followed up last year's sophomore album‘Pirouette’ with a surprise release, three-track EP titled ‘Swan Songs’.
Coming 10 years after their 2016 formation, 'Swan Songs' is described by the band as “a capsule of experiments made in the aftermath of the 'Pirouette' sessions” and a “moody vignette”, both of which can be heard during the opening track.
‘Glassman’ sets the tone of the project in typical Model/Actriz fashion. A dancey, nightclub loop of percussion, Cole Haden’s soft and slightly anxious voice, world-ending, abrasive guitars and bass that plough the track forward like an atonal bulldozer. Model/Actriz have always had a sound that is all their own, an unholy amalgamation of dance punk, noise rock, industrial music, and dance. ‘Glassman’ is a strong encapsulation of that sound, particularly in its closing moments when the build-up of alien noise explodes into harsh static. Of course, the track isn’t complete, chaotic dissonance, as Haden lends the track some melodic catchiness with his vocal runs.
The second part of this triptych, ‘Thank You By Dido’ is the complete opposite of its predecessor. While it is not, unfortunately, a cover of ‘Thank You’ by English singer-songwriter Dido, it is, fortunately, a rather beautiful and slow ballad that we don’t often see from the group. It’s reminiscent of some slower tracks from their debut, 2023’s ‘Dogsbody’, but even more stripped back, as Haden sings, “He calls a driver / I ride alone with the radio / It plays foreign commercials / And “Thank You” by Dido” against distant melodic tones on the hook. While the track does build, those tones growing in intensity and distortion, it never reaches the metallic harshness of much of the band’s other work. It adds a bittersweet, reflective tone to the queer perspective that Haden takes to songwriting.
The last of the three tracks, ‘Majesty’, returns to the abrasiveness that the EP opened with, though it does make time to play around with structure. The track opens with a hypnotic, percussive loop, halfway between out-of-tune drums and ringing bells. Blistering, distorted kick drums pierce into the mix, thin snares layering themselves on top. As these disparate elements come together beneath the vocals, the track moves between distressing verses and a lovely hook where nearly all instrumentation drops out, and we are left with Haden’s beautiful vocals.
Towards the end of the track, however, the instrumentation changes almost completely. We get a new, energetic beat with subtle guitars, and a machine-like background hum. It’s a more chilled-out ending than one might expect, despite the energy behind the beat, and is an intriguing note to end the project on.
‘Swan Songs’ is an interesting epilogue to ‘Pirouette’. On the one hand, we see a continuation of the sound that the group have perfected over their previous decade as a band, with their repetitive and metallic instrumentation. On the other, we are seeing them branch out a bit more in terms of sound and structure. It’s too early to say how ‘Swan Songs’ could shape the future of Model/Actriz, but these three songs are fantastic additions to their discography. It’s a testament to their quality that this three-track EP stands tall as a standalone project just as well as their full-length albums.