New Music From Occurrence
Based in New York City’s neighborhood of Washington Heights, Occurrence is Ken Urban (electronics), Cat Hollyer (vocals) and Johnny Hager (vocals). Formed in 2015, the band’s most recent release – 2023’s double album Slow Violence – was hailed by Plastic Magazine as “a sonic tapestry that blends elements of indie pop, electronic music and shoegaze into a seamless whole.”
Their newest album, Real Friend, began with a hug. Bandleader and instrumentalist Urban explains, “We were coming out of the pandemic and finally the band was together again in our recording studio. Some edibles were had. And we were talking about friendship. Cat just hugged me for a long time in the kitchen and said, ‘You’re my real friend.’” While friendship isn’t the first casualty that springs to mind when you think COVID19, the trio all lost friends during that time. “Friends ghosted me, people drifted out of my life,” Hollyer recalls, “and yet here we were, the three of us still making music.” Rather than fictionalize the experiences, the band went personal. “We wrote these songs about each other, about the people in our lives, without any filters,” according to vocalist Hager. Urban even sat down at a grand piano and wrote music free of any technology other than a microphone and a cassette recorder. “But,” he says, “please don’t think this is our unplugged album.” Highlights include “Feeding Time” – which features a rock sound achieved with the help of guitarist Damian Baldet that Post Punk likens to Tuxedomoon, Crime and the City Solution, and Alan Vega – as well as “Imperfect Robots” and “Opportunity Window.” Of that track, Hollyer recalls, “There was a period when Ken was struggling. I know him to be a creative genius, and yet he was full of all these doubts. I just knew he had to push the haters out of his mind and keep going, and I wrote the lyrics of this song to get that point across.”
FCC Warning: Track 1, “Real Friend,” Track 2, “Sensual Flower,” Track 4, “Opportunity Window.” Servicing includes clean versions of each.
Recommended Tracks: Track 3, “Feeding Time,” Track 14, “Imperfect Robots [radio edit],” Track 13, “Opportunity Window [clean edit]”
“Fast paced, fluid, and taut” – New York Times
“Expansive and consuming… unsettling and brilliant all at once.” – Atwood Magazine
“Glitch, toned down trip-hip, and strangeness in its most pure forms” – Glide
“A belligerent charm mixed in with all those low-end synth lines that feel like clenched fists pounding away.” – Joyzine
Label: Archie & Fox Records
Goes For Adds 3/4
