Daily Dose is your daily source for the song you absolutely, positively need to hear every day. Curated by the Paste Music Team.
Punk music has always been about the freeing of inhibitions, about letting go and giving in to whatever urges you may feel. The inevitable shift to post-punk modified the genre’s sound by adding electronica and disco-infused grooves, folding in new genres and identities that disassembled punk mentalities and pieced them together anew—this time, a touch fresher.
That’s certainly the case with “Calling It,” the new track released to celebrate Automatic’s signing to Stones Throw. Per a press release, members Izzy Glaudini, Lola Dompe and Halle Saxon met “while immersed in L.A.’s DIY music scene” in 2017, and have since become regular performers on the So-Cal club circuit. It’s a familiar tale for a post-punk band, and Automatic already have the era-bending sonic chops of the genre.
The first thing you hear in “Calling It” are cymbals setting the four-on-the-floor tempo; a steady bass line, next; then, a distant, fuzzy synthesizer and monotone vocals moving the song into a neo-noir aesthetic. It’s the type of song perfect for late-night drives, the ones where you try to match up the patterned road markers with the pace of your music.
The vocals here reflect the anxieties of punk music in equal measure with the desperate-for-connection mentalities of club music. “The room is getting smaller / So leave it if you gotta / A picture of your changing face / Another standing in its place,” our vocalist obliquely sings. You’re not sure if the song is about a break-up, a rebound or a rekindling by the time the song reaches its quick conclusion, but you don’t really need to know. Introverted and groovy all the same, “Calling It” is an exciting taste of what’s to come.
Automatic haven’t announced anything official yet, but are promising more info on new music and a tour soon. Listen to “Calling It” below.