STAY INSIDE RETURNS WITH LATEST EP “BLIGHT”
Brooklyn-based emo and post-hardcore outfit, Stay Inside, have returned with their newest EP, “Blight.” This marks the first major project the band has put out since 2020 when they dropped their well-received 2020 debut LP, “Viewing.” Keep reading to find out our thoughts on this highly-anticipted release as well as an interview with frontman, Chris Johns.
Right from the jump, we get the line “have you heard the news that I / haven’t changed,” which sets the jaded tone that stays consistent for the rest of the EP.
The lyrics of these tracks are replete with the usual brooding poetry that we’ve come to expect from Stay Inside, but “Blight” takes the self-reflective tendencies of the band to a new level. Themes of stagnation, apathy, and deterioration are all present throughout this EP.
Vocalist Chris Johns gives the lyrics a bitter twinge and shows a lot of versatility in his performances. He moves through a range of deliveries that range from low, shaky, and vulnerable —like on the opening of “Eraser” and “Dissolve”— to aggressive and vengeful —which can be heard on the chorus of “Hollow.” Bassist Bryn Nieboer and guitarist Chris Lawless also occasionally chime in with backing vocals that add some extra oomph.
Sound-wise, “Blight” follows in the footsteps of “Viewing,” albeit with tinges of what sounds like 2000’s post-grunge here and there. The band really sounds like they haven’t wasted a minute honing their craft since their last major release, with denser instrumentals and more creative flourishes. Interweaving guitar melodies and weighty bass lines keep every track fresh, and drummer Vishnu Anatha in particular stands out as the glue that holds everything together.
The mix on this project is the most fleshed out and detailed yet to be put out by Stay Inside. However, it’s not so cleaned up that the sound loses its edge.
“Blight” is a darker, more finely-tuned addition to Stay Inside’s discography. It’s exciting watching this promising group continue to improve and develop their sound. Given what they’ve already accomplished, I have no doubt that they’ll continue to put out nuanced and compelling music going forward.
Now that “Blight” is finished and ready, how are you feeling about the release?
“Really good. We wrote the record almost 2 years ago now. And it’s one of those things where a while later it functions as this time capsule of how we were feeling at the time.”
“That’s all we’ve been doing for the past couple of years, just sitting in this apartment that I’m in, writing a shit load of songs, and then throwing most of them out. So we really like those ones that stuck.”
What was your inspiration for this project?
“A lot of it was our feelings around the city at the time. I kind of think that a lot of us were sold this story of New York as THE successful city in the U.S. The crime is going down, things are getting built finally after some time. And it was strange to be living here when the city was a little bit dead for a bit and really not being able to feel any of the growth anymore and for it all to feel like decay.”
“I kind of think that we were just like ‘oh this is a different new york than we were sold’ and none of the growth is really impacting most people.”
“I think we were kind of personifying the city as well as a lot of feelings we've been having about our own bodies and our own physical and mental health. I think that growing older and having more time to yourself and feeling your body decay is a relationship within itself. And you recognize your friends have the same things going on, you start to feel subtleties of restriction and change in that sort of way. And I think that having a lot of time to yourself and focusing on that makes that a little bit more universal. You kind of are a little bit tethered to each other in that way.”
“There's definitely a lot of introspection on who we are and the kind of people we want to be.”
How was your approach to making this EP different than how you tackled your last major release, “Viewing?”
“Mostly the writing process. We wrote all of the songs for viewing in our practice base in Brooklyn, and we wrote all of the songs for “Blight” in my apartment here and through the wire. So I would say that, besides that, it was a little bit more fully formed. Bryn’s always pushing me to have a storyline of what we’re actually doing here. And I think whereas “Viewing” seemed like more of a collection of songs, this was more of a singular feeling or vibe that we wanted to get across.
What artists do you consider to be the main influences of your sound? Have they changed at all over the years?
“I think that you develop a different relationship with music from the bands that you know. As we've been playing longer and longer and meeting more and more people, you meet more bands. And when you have that interpersonal connection with people you understand more what they're trying to do with their music. So I think recently we've been listening to a lot of our friend's music.”
“At the time we wrote this record, me personally, I was listening to not a ton of post-hardcore, which is I think what most people would brand us as. But I was listening to mostly indie and screamo, and we kind of meet in the middle. I’ll mention Interpol, which is like my all-time favorite New York band. And then a lot of cool new screamo like Frail Body and Closer.”
What’s the plan for Stay Inside going forward?
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to announce a couple of tours in the next month or two, so we're excited to actually get out there and play shows around the northeast mostly, and a little bit beyond.”
“In terms of writing, we basically just do the same thing, which is no matter what, we’re just here working on music. And I think before we took music more seriously probably what all of us did anyway so it's just a continuation of what we've been doing for the past ten years of our lives.”