Creepoid

The otherworldly sounds that Sean Miller and Pete Urban IV wring from their guitars are proof that, with enough amplification, all things are possible. The Philadelphia quartet Creepoid have earned comparisons to Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, Nick Cave, and Red House Painters over the years. While surely the extreme end of those artists’ repertoires trade in the kind of apocalyptic reverb and distortion that Creepoid use for the meat in songs such as “Yellow Wallpaper,” “Baptism," and “Gout,” the comparisons become clearer on the quieter tunes. (Guitars and volume always create a familiar playbook, in the same sense that an orchestra always sounds like an orchestra.) Creepoid offer their own beautiful sense of consonance and dissonance with the rhythm section of Anna and Patrick Troxell (on bass and drums, respectively); they settle on a neutral pounding to hold down the bottom end without intruding. It's not until “Stay Inside”—the sixth song, nearly 20 minutes in—that Creepoid offer a downcast acoustic tune that evokes a clear sense of ‘90s Nirvana. The songs that follow further reveal the group’s stirring complexities.