New York City Rock Band The Chordaes Evocative EP ‘What We Breathe In’

Heartland-style riffs usher us into the mighty melodic drawl of The Chordaes’ Leo Sawikin in “What We Breathe In,” the opening track of the band’s all-new EP of the same title. “We’ve lost many friends, come to dead-ends, spent all the good times playing pretend,” he sings, his voice peppered with a contemplative regret that frequently accompanies deep retrospection. The guitars aren’t letting him fall into an irreversible depression, though; their strings light up the lyrics with a hopeful quality that seeps its way into “Venus,” the second song on the record and most popular single released by the group to date. “Venus” boasts a mix by Mark Needham that fires up the intensity, builds our tension, and clears the frequencies for Sawikin to slice us open with his fervent poetry.

Kevin Killen returns to the mixing board with the acoustic-driven “Tuesday Afternoon,” a song that shares its name with a Moody Blues classic, but communicates a far less elegiac narrative. With a spring in their step, The Chordaes dispatch poppy riffs that slide from one end of the sonic spectrum to the other before coming to a grinding halt in “This is How it Ends.” This song starts off in the same tone as a funeral march before suddenly eviscerating its stoic pace in a gritty blues-rock fever pitch. This is definitely a track that I need to hear them play live; it’s got so much potential to be extended into a ten or fifteen minute jam, and yet its versatile construction makes it just as fit for a mashup medley with “Venus” and the proceeding “Got to Get Out.”

“Got to Get Out” begins in a haze of church-like vocals, layered one on top of another, framing a gentle guitar melody that aches like a broken heart. It takes a minute for The Chordaes to find the right beat, but once they do, the drums add an urban sway to the track. On the contrary, “All My Life” comes out swinging in a drunken stagger, trapping us with its suffocating lush harmonies before blossoming into a full-fledged pop song. Joseph DeMaio’s mix of “Miles Across The Sea” brings all of the subtle intricacies in the band’s sound to the surface, it’s more as if we’ve just seen a gripping concert rather than simply listened to a new EP.

“Miles Across the Sea” brings us full circle by returning to the studious and heartwarming acoustic fodder of the title track. Sawikin’s voice echoes into the darkness even after the song has stopped in a testament to the unapologetically hooky nuances that make this record the immaculately orchestrated release that it really is. Though they’re still a young band, I think they’ve not only found their sound – they’ve mastered it. What We Breathe In is a masterpiece of an EP, and one of the highlights among all of the most-anticipated records that dropped last month. Its tracks are already receiving a lot of airplay on non-commercial stations across America, and soon after its release, the rest of the world will hear why critics from all over the States are starting a buzz about this talented group of musicians.

A swanky, club-quality beat stampedes into a minimalist-inspired guitar melody that slowly but surely grows into an uncontrollable beast of epic proportions in the song “Venus,” one of the brightest stars in The Chordaes’ new EP What We Breathe In. The song Venus, mixed by the legendary Mark Needham, gives us just a taste of what this sophisticated record amply offers in seven different songs that conquer our hearts with their sharply poetic lyrics, confident harmonies, and inquisitive narratives that are thought-provoking and inspire self-analysis normally only spurred on by intimate conversations between friends. If you thought you’d heard the best of this band, you’d better think again, and prepare yourself to be spellbound.

It must be said that Kevin Foley, lead guitarist for The Chordaes, really drops the hammer in this record and demonstrates his skill set superbly. Though his role isn’t as defined in “Tuesday Afternoon” (where our focus is solely transfixed on singer Leo Sawikin) as it is in riff rock epics like “This is How It Ends,”or conventionally structured material like “What We Breathe In” and “Mile Across the Sea,” he craters every song here with his command of the fretboard. The Chordaes aren’t a guitar-centric band, but this extended play is definitely a six-stringer’s dream incarnate.

The bass is beefy and bludgeoning in “This is How it Ends,” one of the few songs I’ve heard where The Chordaes flirt with a garage rock tonality, which they manage a lot better than I would have expected. It’s not as raw and off the cuff as what we hear in “Got to Get Out,” or even “All My Life,” but it isn’t slighted in the master mix by Kevin Killen at all. Killen mixed all of the songs except for Needham’s “Venus,” and I appreciate the way he contoured the band’s more bellicose nuances for this pop-friendly format.

Instrumentally, What We Breathe In is absolutely as evocative as it is stimulating lyrically. “Mile Across the Sea” and the title track are two of the most legitimately moving new songs I’ve had the pleasure of listening to this year, and it isn’t just because of Sawikin’s charming delivery of the words. Every player in this band pulls their weight, and I don’t think this record would be nearly as consuming as it is without the conservancy of their individualism as artists. None of these tracks belongs to one of them over another; this is, distinctly, The Chordaes at their most harmonious and fluid. Producer Marc Swersky really captured the true essence of Sawikin’s lyrical poetry.

Hopefully in the months following the release of What We Breathe In, The Chordaes will reward fans with a full-blown tour in support of their latest (and possibly greatest) record thus far. Songs like “Venus” and “Got to Get Out” were made to be played live, on stage, with all of the energy a crowd can surrender present to fuel the momentum of the band’s performance. I definitely plan on being in the audience when they make a stop in my city, and once you give this EP a spin I think you’ll be inclined to join me.