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Apr 24, 2024 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Adam Kocka

Over the past few years, Portland-based outfit Bug Seance have been crafting a layered and adventurous sound, pulling from both emo and shoegaze. The band debuted with their 2020 EP, Erasing, and followed with another EP in 2022, Retracing. They’ve been keeping that pace up this year with the release of a pair of new singles “I can always count on you” and “Aardvark,” the first tastes of their newly announced EP, I’m Right Here, out on May 17th. Accompanying the news of the record, they are also sharing another new single, “These Days,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“These Days” is a relentless and hook-filled effort, one which sees the band playing with a wide range of tones and rarely settling down for longer than a few moments. It opens on a chiming guitar intro, moving seamlessly between dextrous emo melodies and bursts of fuzzy distortion. Soon after, the band pulls back into a subdued verse, putting the spotlight on vocalist Maria DeHart, only to quickly pick up the tempo before pivoting into a pounding breakdown. Later, in the song’s final moments, it builds from a spacey washed-out soundscape into a propulsive climax, complete with rapid-fire drum fills and gang vocals. Yet, the track’s progression flows effortlessly despite the constant restless shifts, with each portion knit together by the band’s kinetic instrumental chemistry and subtly catchy melodies.

DeHart says of the track, “’These Days’ is a song about the neverending task of letting go and accepting the fact that the only thing you have control over is yourself. I wrote these lyrics as a form of self-assurance that I am enough, what I am doing on a daily basis is enough, and my absolute best is all that I can do. As a DIY musician in these tough times we’re in now (read: late-stage capitalism), the constant pressure to hustle and do everything we can all the time is palpable. This song stands as a reminder to take a step back and appreciate everything we’ve done and tried to do, because it all takes time and energy, and it’s seriously not easy, especially when the world is feeling so bleak. At the end of the day, we are all simply trying to do our best. And, to quote the lyrics, ‘I can’t do anything to control the rest.’

Check out the song below. The I’m Right Here EP is out on May 17th.