Enumclaw
Home in Another Life
RUN FOR COVER
ABOVE THE CURRENT
There’s an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants where the quadrilateral title character has a song hopelessly stuck in his head, and the only way he can get it out is by playing his speakers so loud that the literal earworm squatting in his canal is forced to move out. Listening to Home in Another Life, the second album from indie rock up-and-comers Enumclaw, has a pretty similar effect. The way in which the Tacoma-based group stacks their guitars, and the croon with which frontman Aramis Johnson moves through each song, forces each of these 11 recordings into your brain. The only way to evict the earworm is to play it even louder—and even that has a decent chance of just compounding the effect. Luckily the screeching rock anthems emitted by these Washingtonians are well worth the headache.
Self-doubt and shame suck, but life can be a bit better if you can confront them over a wall of fuzzy guitar rhythms grounded by drum fills. On Home in Another Life, Enumclaw waste no time putting this on display, opening with an electric scream before diving into a meditation on self-love on the aptly named “I’m Scared I’ll End Up All Alone.” Johnson voices the title’s fear, crooning out, “How could I love someone like you / If I hate myself?” before turning the tables and wondering whether another could love him for the same reason. After devolving into a delightful instrumental break, Johnson hops back in, repeatedly singing that “I’m scared I’ll end up all alone,” just in case the verses weren’t explicit enough.
Enumclaw has an absolutely electric ability to rock out about depression and anxiety—head-banging and all—while piling up the greatest metaphors possible to describe their mental anguish. Johnson crooning about putting out his cigarette on the kitchen counter because nothing really matters is basically nihilist gold. And then there’s the incredibly named “I Still Feel Bad About Masturbation” and “Fall Came Too Soon and Now I Wanna Throw Up,” whose respective subject matters consist of Johnson’s mental demons and staying home all day because the hopelessness is too much. The lyrics are intimately bleak, with Johnson displaying a vulnerability that commands all the respect in the world.
There is a light, though, despite it not always being easy to reach. On “Spots,” Johnson details the over-the-top passion that comes with a love- (and lust-) at-first-sight encounter over possibly the nastiest bass line of 2024. Clutching a pint while walking down a sidewalk that reminds him of their thong, Johnson devolves into screams of “I’m in love with you” as the track fades with matching guitar shrieks. “Change” yearns for a break of the cycle of pain, while Johnson looks to replace anxiety and hopelessness with patience and focus on closer “I Want Somethings for Myself.” The sound is emotionally raw, possessed by someone truly wanting to improve their condition despite the challenges that will require.
Ultimately, Enumclaw have flexed their proficiency for storytelling and rock on Home in Another Life. They understand that all types of mourning can be done just as well over raucous fucking percussion as it can be over the pitter-patter of fingerpicked guitar. Johnson’s laments over his Uncle Mike succumbing to Alzheimer’s on “Not Just Yet” perfectly encapsulate this—repeatedly yelling “This can’t be true” and “Not just yet” gets the dread out in real time. It’s a verbal punch in the wall, and the release is all the same. Sometimes the best way to work through baggage is filthy basslines and screamed-out vocals.
