Though it’s never gotten as much press as Boston 50 miles to the north, Providence, R.I., is home to a thriving, if amorphous, indie-music scene. Lookers embody the many contradictions of this former manufacturing town, which is also home to the top-tier Rhode Island School of Design and Ivy League powerhouse Brown University.
“There isn’t a definitive sound to the Providence music scene, but rather a definitive attitude that has a lot of heart and grit,” says Lookers cofounder Muggs Fogarty. “Most of us grew up going to shows in the grungy warehouse scene and at intimate house shows. As a band, we like to move between those two—clean, tight control with erratic releases throughout.”
Available April 25 on the Brooklyn-based Almost Ready imprint, Lookers’ debut LP, Deeper, has been in the works for a good long while. Now a quintet, the group began in the 2010s as a songwriting collaboration between vocalist/poet Fogarty and guitarist Rafay Rashid. Since then, they’ve filled out their sound with bassist/violinist Florence Wallis (Low Anthem), guitarist Nick Politelli (Ravi Shavi) and drummer Bryan Fielding (Thug Honey).
“We love the epic scope and chaos of noise music and got to explore a more textured sound with this record,” says Fogarty. “But even the more restrained songs have an edge.”
A delicate antidote to the grinding synths of leadoff single “Bury You Under,” “Alone” is a lilting, shoegaze-ish ballad. “It’s a poem about the feedback loop of each lover’s effect on the other—a slow-burn of fates and watery time,” says Fogarty.
We’re proud to premiere Lookers’ “Alone.”
—Hobart Rowland
