If you sometimes find yourself standing in line on a Wednesday evening outside Brass Monkey waiting to get into Emo Night, chances are you might be the next fan of San Antonio pop punk group, House Plants. The band released their latest EP, Hayward Hills on August 7^th, 2019 via Bandcamp. This follows the December 2018 release of their first, self-titled EP.

Hayward Hills was written by band members Eric Bustamante, Robert Stewart, and Nate Lujan, and produced by Trey Karnes. The artwork is illustrated by Jada Garcia and grabs your attention as it is both playful in its style, and slightly melancholy in its design, a clever visual representation of the music on this EP.

The EP consists of five tracks—the same as their first release—and is about 16 minutes in length; so It feels like you’re getting plenty of content, and it’s not asking for too much of your time in return.  Overall, Hayward Hills delivers a nostalgic punch to the gut and fills the pop-punk-shaped hole in your heart. The album recalls timeless high school memories of alienation and frustration with social anxiety, but quirky song titles like “Hey Paul Rudd…Thanks” or “y=mx+ It Be Like That Sometimes” remind us to not take everything so seriously all the time.

The opening track “Bellevue Brian” is my favorite track out of the five. It serves as a great introduction, and helps set genre expectations for the listener going forward. The song is passionate and full of dynamic contrast which masks the relatively simple chord structure keeping the listener engaged, preventing it from becoming background music at an underage house party. I also appreciate the math-rock inspired main riff on “y=mx+ It Be Like That Sometimes,” not only for adding another layer of math references, but also for showcasing some of the more technical components of the album.

I admit that I’m not the most familiar with pop punk or emo culture despite growing up in its “golden age.” I spent most of high school either listening to shred guitarists like Buckethead or Queen, and various showtunes. Despite being an “outsider,” if you will, I found Hayward Hills to be an enjoyable listen. I will likely revisit it again once it becomes available on Spotify. If you consider yourself a fan of pop punk, check it out now on Bandcamp and support your local music scene by going to one of their shows, you can find out more on Instagram: @houseplantstx.

Written by Joshua Myles