Throes NYC drops ‘The Wires Out’ EP

Throes NYC is a duo that features the talents of multi-instrumentalist and producer Michael Bozzo alongside vocalist Courtney Leo, a Queens-based project that’s spent years developing a musical world that’s tethered to the city that shaped them. Their relationship stretches back to childhood, flourishing into a creative partnership that’s ultimately produced something they describe as “altriphop,” a meeting point between alternative pop, trip hop and modern indie production.

The name may be new, but the vision behind it reaches much further back and while growing up in Queens, the pair were immersed in New York’s legendary live music culture, frequenting venues including CBGB’s, Roseland Ballroom and Irving Plaza. Those spaces offered an early education in the possibilities of underground music, particularly during the 90s and early 2000s, when experimentation and genre-crossing were increasingly becoming part of the landscape.

Their production has an adventurous quality running through it that recalls the freedom of those earlier years, with electronic experimentation overlapping human emotion, while warm analogue textures float alongside modern sound design. Courtney’s intimate vocals can rise from enveloping soundscapes that feel equally natural through headphones or within the shadows of a dimly lit venue.

Throes NYC’s songs frame the spaces between people from attraction, obsession, intimacy and disconnection to the desire to make sense of all of it. The duo officially introduced their project with “Fight The Urge” in February last year and since then, they’ve expanded their catalogue with a string of impressive releases, including three EPs that have helped confirm their status as a visionary act offering something entirely new.

Now they return with The Wires Out, a brand new two-track EP that takes their altriphop identity towards a more melodic, pop-leaning setting. Featuring “Something Chemical” and “Always, Baby,” the release moves between darker tension and softer romance, drawing heavily on the musical atmosphere of the New York scene that continues to inform their work.

“Always, Baby” offers a sound that’s subtly openly romantic, with its softer energy giving the EP a perspective on intimacy. Brought in by Courtney’s delicate vocals, the laid back arrangement of gentle piano notes and softly pattering percussion forms a dreamy soundscape that develops with murky low end texture and intricate guitar elements. Flowing with elegant melodies and steady rhythmic energy, it’s an alluring musical moment that frames the duo’s sound in a tender, pop-tinged aesthetic while still retaining the shadowy vibes that fans have come to love from Throes NYC.

“Something Chemical” occupies the more disquieted end of that spectrum by gliding into the darker side of attraction, capturing the magnetism of something difficult to resist and the unsettling feelings that can accompany it. Emotive vocals and airy piano plinks set up the song while the pulse of bass and rattle of percussion adds to the building atmosphere. Jumping into a driving sound of punching drums and stacks of synths, it’s a gripping sound that continues to reveal Throes NYC’s pop-focused songwriting cut with their trademark alternative style.

There’s a sense of obsession running through the song, reflected in the EP’s wider interest with the unstable space between connection and disconnection. Together, the two tracks create a compact but contrasting portrait of desire while showcasing the range of their unique musical output. Throes NYC are making music about people trying to find one another through all the noise and while the wires may be crossed, the message still gets through.

Listen to The Wires Out below