Sneaks

***CHECK STOCK!!!  Received a 7.3 rating from Pitchfork.
 With little more than a bass, drum machine, and deadpan vocals, SNEAKS, aka EVE MOOLCHAN, makes minimalist music that takes up space—something she herself has made a point of doing in the male-heavy Washington, D.C., DIY punk scene that has been her home. Moolchan’s compelling songwriting, along with the fervid energy of her shows, prompted breakout D.C. label Sister Polygon to release her 2015 debut Gymnastics, which Merge reissued in 2016 November. It’s a Myth builds on Sneaks’ playfully stark approach to post-punk, which, as 
her hometown City Paper described it, causes listeners to go “from curious to provoked to hungry.” Hungry, in part, because the new album clocks in at just 18 minutes of 10 taut, captivating tracks (but still a feast compared to Gymnastics’ 14 minutes). It also adds JONAH TAKAGI and EX HEX / HELIUM frontwoman MARY TIMONY, who recorded the album at Timony’s D.C. studio. Though it flows from influences like Pylon and Bush Tetras, much of that beautiful stuff is hard to categorize or compare to anything else. It’s herkyjerky and fluid all at once, childlike and yet deeply perceptive.