Viewfinder Deliver Captivating & Contemplative New Emo/ Shoegaze — Listen Here!

Voices Echo, a newly available, full-length album from the Denver group Viewfinder, is fascinating.

Get a first listen below! First, here’s a brief review:

I realize that’s a rather broad characterization, but the album at times proves remarkably transfixing. The band perform with familiar instrumentation, but the rhythms flowing across the record feel steeped in ache and longing, and Viewfinder, while maintaining a general sense of notably forward motion, provide these feelings with significant weight.

Pacing-wise, they’re not unmoving, but neither are they ignoring what’s really at issue. Sometimes, it’s remarkably freeing to realize or accept a desire for close connection or something else potentially lingering in jeopardy. To want an interpersonal connection back or to be preserved, even if the situation has progressed beyond mere possibility into blatant loss — it’s a foundational human experience, and yet, it’s sometimes looked over. Not with Viewfinder.

Viewfinder — whose music is consistently shifting, providing a sense of expanse, but never overpowering — sound dedicated to unearthing fragments of a memory or emotion and piecing them into something more reflective of understanding and a place of peace. It’s powerful, but not confrontational. They get it — going through the record, which adeptly melds textures along the lines of post-hardcore with something that feels subtly danceable, it sounds like they’re sitting with you, going over an experience of loss or strain and quietly charting a path ahead. (Think Pianos Become The Teeth, although that’s just a broad comparison — although their recently released record was compelling.)

In a slightly less personal version, you could also imagine that the new Viewfinder album reflects something like sifting through the soil around a forgotten family home and finding personal mementos, suddenly grasping a much broader view of the transience of what we have.

The danceability, just to be clear, is rather specific. It’s not a pop record, and there aren’t any sudden turns into house music. (You wouldn’t mistake it for such when listening.) It’s more like swaying alone in your living room at midnight while trying to cling to a semblance of normalcy after experiencing a potentially disorienting loss. It’s also catchy, and it’s rather easy listening, in terms of a broader view. Having heard the record, I could already imagine myself listening again.

In the haze amid which we all live, the high energy pushed into just about every avenue of existence can be suffocating. Folks have rightly pointed out the problems with what could be called “hustle culture” — that idea seen in some strains of social media where just about everything gets commodified and looking at what’s best for you, no matter the subsequent profit margin, is heresy. Voices Echo sounds in stark opposition to all of that. It’s a refreshing, freeing experience.

Viewfinder are comprised of Zach Bauer on vocals and guitar, Jared Barnes on guitar, Danny Henderson on bass, and Joey Macasero on drums. According to credits on Bandcamp, Barnes engineered, mixed, and mastered the new album from Viewfinder.

Dive into a first listen to Voices Echo below (or over at this link)! (If the music lags, please refresh the page and/ or wait a moment.)