LOCAL ANESTHETIC: Sneaks
Ranked one of the best D.C.-based rock artists by The FADER, Sneaks is the fantastic post-punk project from Eva Moolchan. The singer and bassist creates minimalist music with hints of punk and hip-hop with only a drum machine, bass, and her distinct voice. Moolchan has toured with Parquet Courts, Downtown Boys, and, most recently, Chastity Belt.
I caught the end of a Sneaks performance at a free Record Store Day show in Brooklyn this year. Moolchan and her DJ, Toyomansi (Dylan Ubaldo), played a showcase before the headliner, Sunflower Bean. Although the audience grew and only half-heartedly listened, the beat was enough to get people nodding their heads and swaying ever so slightly.
The duo sped up their songs and seamlessly flowed from one track to another, highlighting the cohesive sound of Sneaks’ music. Moolchan’s magnetic presence and unique voice made for an outstanding concert and I can’t wait to catch her again the next time she is on tour.
Moolchan is a Silver Spring native who grew up in the local music scene. She played in a punk band, Young Trynas, and in the short-lived project, Blood, with members of Priests and Gauche before focusing on her solo work as Sneaks.
Gymnastics, Sneaks’ first album, was released on tape through Sister Polygon in 2015 after some encouragement from friend, Priests vocalists, and label co-founder, Katie Alice Greer. Since then, Moolchan has signed to Merge Records, which reissued Gymnastics in 2016 in addition to releasing her most recent album, It’s a Myth, this year.
Both albums are shorter than 20 minutes with many of the songs clocking in at less than two minutes. Moolchan’s spoken word style of performing often feels like poetry with lyrics that are abstract and rely on metaphors.
In “New Taste,” the lyrics recount what may be a grocery list or daily mundane observations — loose change, yogurt, and eye drops are all subjects she mulls over. Maybe the lyrics refer to how your taste preferences change when you grow up or how you learn to like new things when you fall in love. Moolchan skilfully repurposes mundane items as intriguing catalysts of change.
Other songs, however, are more obvious, yet no less poetic. In “X.T.Y.,” she chants, “Anxiety / You take the best of me / You turn me inside out / And then you ruin me.” Her haunting, almost expressionless voice speaks over a distorted bass, effectively portraying the exasperation of facing anxiety.
Each Sneaks song seems to live on its own, telling a complete story even when it’s as short as the 42-second track “No Problem.” But paradoxically, her music is somehow both fulfilling while still leaving you wanting more.
-Gabby Brooks