REVIEW: Loser Demon – ‘EP2’
If their debut collection felt like a promising lo-fi experiment, ‘EP2’ is where Loser Demon stop dabbling and start carving out their own corner of the underground. The four-piece still rehearse in a backyard “stu,” but you wouldn’t know it from the sound of this outing. It’s leaner, louder, and more deliberate, with songs that channel power-pop urgency and post-punk tension into something raggedly beautiful. Rather than smoothing out their edges, the band sharpen them, turning everyday frustration into a series of vivid, melodic bruises.
Opener ‘Holding Ground’ sets the tone. Over chiming guitars and a pulse that swells like a held breath, the vocals wrestle with permanence and the stubbornness of love. It’s wistful and defiant at once, a wiry, near-spiteful groove that drives lyrics about irony, self-destruction, and collective apathy. The band’s knack for dynamic shifts is on full display, where melodic verses give way to bursts of grit, like someone flipping a switch from confession to confrontation.
Elsewhere, ‘Rewinder’ builds a labyrinth of guitar lines and lyrical déjà vu, a song about trying to hit replay on a life that refuses to cooperate. ‘Hundred Feet’ is darker still, its imagery of parachutes, waiting rooms, and temporary stains playing like a half-dreamed short film about resilience and shame. And then there’s ‘Reliance’, which turns abstract anxiety into something propulsive, with passionate drumming pushing the song toward a breaking point. Closer ‘Living in the Margins’ is the quietest and most affecting moment, a sparse reflection on self-censorship and invisibility that lingers long after it ends.
Across all six tracks, Loser Demon balance intensity with a sense of wry self-awareness. The lyrics look outward at a fractured world but also inward, at the cracks we carry ourselves. It’s music for late nights when you’re too wired to sleep but too tired to keep scrolling. With ‘EP2’, Loser Demon are building a world where mess and melody coexist, and it sounds like something worth returning to.