Bit later than I wanted it to be, this. Sporadically ill child (plus associated doctor’s appointments, blood tests), new role at work and half term have been conspiring against me getting any writing done. Well, those things and a load of other random bollocks nobody gives two shakes of a shitty stick about.
Anyway…
Unseemlier are a four piece from Boston, MA. They describe themselves as “Heavy Emo / Soft Punk” on their bandcamp page. I Have A Screw Loose, Somewhere is their first full length album, and was preceded by a cassette only EP, The Truth is We Out Here. Subsequently, they seem to have done a split with a band called Little Low. Nope, no fuckin’ clue, my guy. Can only assume it’s a Bohemian Rhapsody inspired novelty act or something. I dunno, look ‘em up, it might be cool.
I Have A Screw Loose, Somewhere was initially released in summer last year on purple vinyl from Sell the Heart Records. Apparently the centre label said 45RPM, but it came with a note saying it plays at 33RPM if you care about those little factoids. That sold out, and we now have a second press on what I’m going to call raspberry beret coloured vinyl (although I’m told it’s translucent red with black smoke, mine is definitely opaque raspberry with white and grey). No reason other than Prince or Symbol (or whatever bullshit his name was by the time he died) was some weird guy. I once saw him described in the popular music press as “a mystical sex dwarf dipped in a bucket of pubic hair” or something. All of which has nothing whatsoever to do with this, but it’s just popped back into my head after about 30 years… Ahem. This reissue is again from Sell The Heart Records, this time produced in collaboration with the always great Little Rocket Records, who are handling the release for UK and EU audiences.
Maybe you already have a copy of this record. Maybe you have a copy and you’re wondering “why does this shit sound like the Chipmunks?” – change the speed of rotation, mate.
Assuming you’ve never heard anything by this band Unseemlier – and it’s likely you may not have if you live outside the New England region of the US – I’ll do my best to fill you in. Suffice to say that this is a band that’s going to have a bunch of cross-genre and multi-generational appeal. Feast one’s eyes and ears on this (filmed on the cheap at Mike Assatly – guitar / vocals – favourite place in the world, the local skatepark! Shout out to that rad Bert slide on the bank), and appreciate:
Thematically speaking, I Have A Screw Loose, Somewhere takes in the old genre favourites like loss, addiction, being trapped in suburbia, and having a typically jaundiced view of the human situation as it relates to the world at large. Suffice to say you won’t be finding happy songs here. More to the point, why would you want that anyway?
This band, to me, is taking a somewhat novel approach of deconstructing genre tropes and rebuilding something that feels entirely appropriate for the current context. Over the last few years, we’ve seen a bunch of bands like Praise, Militarie Gun and Fiddlehead (as three examples) find deserving success by recontextualizing the textures and rhythms delivered by the likes of Fugazi and Jawbox in the post-Revolution Summer era through an indie rock filter.
Unseemlier, to my perception are doing something similar with that sound, but eschewing the indie rock element in favour of Sunderland’s finest, Leatherface, and a whole raft of Orgcore (i.e. a melodic yet rough sound and style popular amongst readers and writers of punknews.org 10 – 20 years ago, and the output of labels like Kiss of Death, No Idea and Traffic Street Records amongst others). Of particular note in this case, I’m throwing out there Iron Chic, Latterman, and Off With Their Heads and that type of thing. Add into that the song crafting dynamics of Jawbreaker and Samiam, and you’ve got it in a nutshell. All these elements at play, but doing their own thing. And I think that’s pretty cool, if I’m honest.
If I’d been aware at the time, in 2025, I’m sure this would’ve been a hot contender for album of the year last year. What more can I say than I’m really grateful to have a copy of this in my hands, and I’ve been playing this thing A LOT. I just really want other people to hear this too and enthuse about it. It doesn’t get much better than this, in my opinion. More of this, please.
Tony of Nurgle rating 9.5/10
You can pick a copy up from the band at a show, or from the Little Rocket Records bandcamp page in the UK / EU, or in the US, from Sell The Heart records, in an edition of just 150.
