One Step Closer may only have two albums and a handful of EPs to their name, but the moniker they chose for their slowly evolving emocore outfit feels like a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy already as the Pennsylvania collectively gradually finds their voice. Moving beyond the hometown trauma of their 2021 debut, the Wilkes-Barre group has added a number of more nuanced textures to All You Embrace, their sophomore record arriving tomorrow via Run for Cover Records. “I wanted to showcase One Step Closer in its fullest state,” vocalist Ryan Savitski announced leading up to the LP’s release. “Every single part of the band, I wanted it to be there. I wanted us to be 100 percent ourselves and be as authentic to our band as we could possibly be.”
Coming together with the help of writing sessions alongside members of breakout metalcore act Knocked Loose and labelmates Citizen, the record weaves through contemporary hardcore sounds while paying homage to various waves of pop-punk and emo ranging from Green Day to Title Fight, in addition to invoking some of the ’90s alt-rock that helped fuel those bands. It’s a furious ball of energy that burns out just beyond the 30-minute mark, packing hooky melodies, emotive vocal harmonies, and plenty of angst-fuelled riffs and belted lyrics into that tight runtime.
Ahead of the record’s release tomorrow, we asked founding members Ryan Savitski and Ross Thompson, as well as the group’s most recent addition Colman O’Brien, to craft a playlist outlining some of the influences that found their way into All You Embrace. From the soaring Britpop of Oasis to True Widow’s doomgazing slowcore, it turns out they embrace quite a bit.
Check out the playlist and their writeups for each track below, and pre-order the record here.
RYAN SAVITSKI
The Smashing Pumpkins, “Stand Inside Your Love”
This is my favorite Smashing Pumpkins song of all time. There’s something about this song that scratches an itch for me—the lyrics are perfect and the song as a whole has such a melancholy feeling. The last chorus gives me chills every time I hear it. Huge inspiration for me lyrically and dynamically.
Green Day, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”
I always say that I want to write a song as good as this at some point. This song is big for a reason: it’s super dramatic and catchy. We may not sound like Green Day, but thinking in those terms definitely helped shape this record and to get us thinking outside the box.
Title Fight, “Make You Cry”
Just a perfect song, honestly. This song just captures everything I love about hardcore and emo music. Incredible lyrics and instrumentals, plus all the crazy tones they got on this song are perfect. Title Fight has been an inspiration since I was first getting into hardcore—don’t think that’ll ever change, really.
Oasis, “Supersonic”
You already know what’s good with this song. Everything they’ve done is perfect.
COLMAN O’BRIEN
Failure, “Stuck on You”
This song is a go-to soundcheck riff! It’s jam-packed with massive chords and a simplistic guitar lead that gets stuck in your head. Acoustic guitar in the verses, enough said.
Rival Schools, “Travel by Telephone”
What an album opener! The epic snare build into the intense lead during the verse is so powerful. The chorus utilizes great dynamics—I’m always thinking about this song when writing a riff.
Mock Orange, “In Even Time”
Pulling from the emo world—I like to reference this album when I’m trying to think of a cool melodic riff. The drummer chooses really cool grooves that complement the guitar well.
ROSS THOMPSON
The Cure, “Lullaby” (Live at Wembley)
This is my favorite version of this song. All the layers of this song just tickle my brain. In all of their songs I feel like they never cared how many layers they added—they were just trying to build an atmosphere and make the song be something more, to have their own personalities. I’m known for going a little overboard when we’re recording, adding a million layers of guitar tracks and little noises just to make the sound pop or make a part stand out a bit. I definitely have a problem and get neurotic about it, but I really think the little details matter.
The Exploration, “I Guess, I’m Leaving”
Genuinely one of my favorite bands of all time. This is the first song I learned that’s just all tapping and then got me into the idea of trying to write a One Step Closer song that incorporates it in some way. If it wasn’t for this song or this band, we wouldn’t have “Giant’s Despair.”
True Widow, “AKA”
The atmosphere of this whole record is so cold and lonely, but this song specifically was a huge inspo for me on All You Embrace. In the opening track, “Color You,” for the pre-chours drop out part when we were working on it, I immediately knew what direction to take it in, and that came from this record.
