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Single Premiere: Catcher "Comparing Saviors and Friends


Just days before the end of 2021, NYC post-punk outfit Catcher have shared a comeback single entitled "Comparing Saviors and Friends." Ramping up with sludge-y bass and frenetic guitar chords, the track charges forward like an angry bull out the gate, accompanied by vocalist Austin Eichler's deep-seated drawl. The single is regarded as one of the first tracks they'd written with the genesis of the band, and comes alongside a music video they made themselves.

Catcher is a Brooklyn-based post-punk band with a reputation for visceral and powerful live performances. Drawing comparisons to Iceage and Protomartyr, Catcher deliver music with a driving and inundating low-end, provided by childhood friends Cameron McRae and Wilson Chestney, on bass and drums respectively. Guitarists Jack Young and Christian Reech — each having been recruited earlier this year via a Craigslist ad and connection via the band's shared Tinder — interweave melodies and noise to create an environment that manages to be at once both bleak and moving, desolate but hopeful, violent but tender. Vocalist Austin Eichler commands listeners with a domineering and chaotic presence. From drawling croons to powerful screams, Austin’s narrative lyrics invoke a wide spectrum of emotion while creating a world of their own. Through endless hours of practice and work, the band has crafted a gripping and tight live performance and a growing international fanbase.

While concocting Catcher’s general ethos, Austin explained their process as, more or less, taking each of their individual interests and combining them into a stew, flavored with bits of post-punk influence and dashes of noise and art rock. With this project, they retained a sense of dedication to switch things up as well, gaining ideas from listening to music that didn’t sound similar to anything they’d personally done before — this included anything from the noisy chaos of Puce Mary and T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo, to free jazz, dub, and even the likes of Johnny Cash “to draw back to [their] southern roots.” Thematically, their lyrical material comes as a result of influences from films (such as Wake In Fright and Until The End Of The World) and books (like The Power and The Glory by Graham Greene and The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov), but also everyday life experiences. This year, their first year as a band, Catcher shared four singles — "Yesterday's Favorite" / "The Skin" and "Only Advice" / "Fallen Stones" — and played countless sold-out shows across the city, in addition to going on their first headlining tour across the U.S. with fellow NYC rockers Been Stellar. The band are closing out their debut year and welcoming the next by playing a gig with Hello Mary at Mercury Lounge on Sunday, January 2, 2022.

Photo by Kevin Allen

Words from from drummer Wilson Chestney "I think it's safe to say it’s a single off our LP we’ve recorded that we feel captures our live energy and stands out as one of our more straightforward tracks. When Austin and I originally wrote and demo’d it out, we felt it was probably a little too poppy, but once we had the whole band play it their way for a proper recording, it ended up becoming one of our favorites."


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