Home in Another Life＜Colored Vinyl＞

When idiosyncratic Tacoma, Washington alt-rockers Enumclaw put together their first album (2022s Save the Baby), it was very much the project of singer, songwriter, and rhythm guitarist Aramis Johnson, whose relatively lucid voice and anxious introspections cut through the murky wall of guitars and feedback of the projects heavier songs and added emo-like distress to their poppier, more spacious material. Without diminishing Johnsons band-defining presence, the follow-up, Home in Another Life, found the group -- now deeply bonded -- working more collaboratively. A more consistently angsty, saturated sound results thats in harmony with lyrics about struggle, self-examination, and challenging life events on songs with titles like "Change," "Sink," and "Fall Came Too Soon and Now I Wanna Throw Up." It begins with a long squeal and the candid admission "Im Scared Ill End Up All Alone," a song that doesnt set the stage so much as dive right into the heart of the matter. ("Its getting so hard just to love myself/Why cant I figure it out?") Family illness weighs heavily on "Not Just Yet," with Johnson repeating "This cant be true" over and over for the chorus; one cant go home again on "Havent Seen the Family in a While, Im Sorry"; and "Spots" is one of several songs here to refer to a relationship-ending abortion. Throughout, Home in Another Lifes melodic squalor borders on catchy, with songs that tend toward the short side and, while they ruminate, dont ramble. Recorded in Seattle with singer/songwriter Ben Zaidi co-producing, the album bears the influence of the citys historic music scene while offering a more intimate, almost Midwestern-sounding take than those legendary grunge acts. Whatever the influence, it works, and when the record ends with the tenderer "I Want Somethings for Myself," which sounds like a single-mike studio demo, it becomes even clearer that songwriting is the groups main driving force. ~ Marcy Donelson