shortstop compresses collapse into a 21-minute blast

shortstop's self-titled LP turns nine brief songs into a jittery, emotionally exacting statement.

shortstop’s self-titled album arrived on September 6, 2024 as a nine-song, 21-minute release, and across its runtime explores  emo, emocore, emotional hardcore, screamo, and skramz territory. It also feels like the culmination of a quick but focused run of earlier releases.  I hear a band honing its language.

What grabs me is how deliberately the record uses brevity. “racecar i” and “i think you should leave” land like hard, immediate jolts, while “sisyphus / orpheus” opens the emotional floor just enough for the album to breathe. I’m especially taken with the way “vote by mail” and “the assassination of shinzo abe lincoln” push the writing outward into political and cultural abrasion, before “john wilkes kissing booth” and “but the heart has its own memory and i have forgotten nothing” drag everything back toward grief, memory, and self-erasure. With Jonathon Collins writing and handling guitar/vocals, Mateo de la Torre on bass, Ren Mendoza on drums/vocals, and Trevor Hilton plus Owen Traynor shaping the sound in the studio, I hear a statement that already knows how to hit hard without wasting a second.

(•)> That's all, Folks! Check out shortstop on the Pigeon Opinion Playlist