Vundabar - Gawk (2015)

Vundabar is a Boston-based trio that delivers jangly, fuzzed-out math- and surf-tinged indie rock shot through with plenty of post-punk spirit. After emerging in 2013, the band courted mainstream favor in 2021 when their fiery 2015 single "Alien Blues" became an unlikely streaming sensation. Vundabar capitalized on that success the following year with the release of Devil for the Fire, their fifth long-player.
Formed in 2013 by vocalist/guitarist Brandon Hagen and drummer Drew McDonald while still in high school, the duo eventually recruited bassist Zack Abramo and began playing locally. Sporting a melody-rich blend of knotty folk and loud-soft-loud indie rock à la Beantown luminaries Pixies, Vundabar issued their debut album, Antics, in late 2013. They adopted a grittier tone on 2015's Gawk, which added grungy post-punk to the mix. The cathartic and dense Smell Smoke arrived in 2018, delivering an earworm-heavy set that was both bracing and sincere, and in 2020 the trio released the tight and succinct Either Light, which saw them working with a producer, Patrick Hyland (Mitski), for the first time. In 2021, online snippets of fans singing along to the group's 2015 single "Alien Blues" flooded social media, which garnered millions of streams for the seven-year-old cut. Devil for the Fire, Vundabar's wide-ranging fifth studio effort, appeared the following year.