Through Ekko Astral’s debut album, they unleash a colorful frenzy of queer no-wave, post-punk, and noise punk that amplifies the biting tone of the record. ‘Pink Balloons’ and its desire to live and fight against the contradicting nature of allyship is pieced together with a confronting flair to boot on both sound and writing.
It can get quite easy to dismiss acts and their lyrical wit when they opt for a language that is rooted thoroughly within an internet-laden culture, especially when most people these days tend to burrow themselves within a more “sophisticated” mindset, which can push away the nuance and weight of the writing when the presentation will come off as “eyebrow-raising”. To lead this off, Ekko Astral started with an EP titled ‘QUARTZ’ back in 2022, spinning together queercore post-punk and garage rock that allowed Jael Holzman’s writing towards her experience as a transwoman living within a hellish environment that will push her out of the conversation. This would eventually make the band be signed under Topshelf Records, allowing their queercore punk edge to manifest in refined heights with their debut album, ‘Pink Balloons’.
Within this album, Ekko Astral plops their sonic punk edges across no-wave, noise rock, and post-punk with full throttling drive as they flit their strains of compositions with pulsating grooves that allow Jael Holzman’s performances and the array of melodies to carry a fiery streak that comes through both the shorter and longer cuts on the album. And with production that puts the grooves never smeared and the textures always sharp, as well as the overall flow of the project ending up consistently potent, it makes the cuts stick out with quality despite how the songs can be a bit tough to get into despite its excellent swings. The noisy sparks that come on the guitars and drums of ‘head empty blues’, the grinding grooves that lead to the hook of ‘baethoven’ explode as Holzman’s vocals shout from left to right, the bolting guitar melodies that charge through on the chorus section of ‘uwu type beat’, the swaggering flair from the brief yet immense melodies of ‘buffaloed’, the stomping edge that creates a shakingly manic tone on ‘on brand’, the methodical passages of ‘devorah’ where the slower ambiance opens up to the rapid drive from the melodic grooves, then ending it off with ‘i90’ where it takes its 8 and a half minute length on a somber atmosphere that still ends up becoming splendid from the softer keys that accents the fleeting guitars and drums, with Josaleigh Pollett’s vocals joins Holzman’s voice as they coast through the finish line.
But of course, this leads to the writing that complements the girlish and internet-laden presentation of the project that might come a bit too “lightweight” for those who will scoff at that lyrical flair way too easily, but it does carry weight in exploring themes of queerness that the band opened up on their debut EP and extending it further to create a bigger picture. With Jael Holzman essentially trying to live off as a trans woman in this borderline crushing world, where the online-based language becomes used as a way to find some relief online as the array of getting stalked, discriminated, and bullshitted within the patriarchal culture and incoherent political environment in America only makes her feel uncomfortable and anxious. Amidst those experiences, she also uses her exasperation to confront the social environments at large in terms of laying down the fact that they seem to ignore the fact that there have been way too many queer people that died in the country - someways way too young - pointing out the hypocrisy of leftist allyship when the brand deals is presented in front of those who are willing to take that offer and the people who will use the topic of queerness as a quick joke that comes off excessively tiring. It might come off exhausting at the end of the day, yet the desire to continue living under this wreck for her and for the queer folks that carry the same struggles as she will keep on moving forward and carrying that fight along with her.
For as much as the album carries that online brand of writing and some of the chirpy presentation that has people glancing over with sneering reactions, their reception towards the choice of lyricism does a disservice to the album’s thematic weight and compositional heft that ends up carrying terrific quality from front to back. With ‘Pink Balloons’, Ekko Astral flies sky high as there is much character swelling through their song-crafting and songwriting that goes tempestuous in its melodies and deep-seated in its writing. Through that desire to fight for those who have been pushed away, it creates an uplifting feeling to continue helping others along the way.
Favorite Tracks: ‘head empty blues’, ‘baethoven’, ‘uwu type beat’, ‘on brand’, ‘buffaloed’, ‘devorah’, ‘i90’
Least Favorite Track: ‘burning alive on k st’