True Womanhood - Basement Membranes

True Womanhood are playing en EP release show here in Baltimore at the Golden West tomorrow night with Moss of Aura, Rapdragons, and INEVERYROOM.

The much regionally-hyped DC band dropped their debut recently, a digital EP with Environmental Aesthetics. The trio consists of Thomas Redmond, Melissa Beattie, and Noam Elsner, and they've only been around a little over a year now. Basement Membranes was recorded at Death by Audio by David Levin (A Place to Bury Strangers) and at J. Robbins' studio in Baltimore.

The new EP is the much fuller form of the four song demo they've had at shows over the last year (which came in an awesome old school floppy disc sleeve), and features six tracks at just over 25 minutes. Not just fuller in length - the production fronted by the choice individuals noted above is definitely noteworthy.

The bands take on melodic gloom pop uses sounds and textures of all varieties, all of which are tweaked and leveled to a listen that is interesting to say the least. Guitar drones and drums are mixed in with samples and croons, churning a stew of cohesive melodies and almost haunted sounds.

"Dignitas" is a personal favorite, track three on the digital EP. This is by far the darkest of the bunch, with layers of ghosts paired with entrancing sonics that build throughout. I'd love to see this band take this darkness even farther in prior works, as this one's just got that tribal/cult feel that's tough not to be drawn to.

As long as this band sounds even remotely the same as they do now, there will surely be Radiohead comparisons. This is largely due to the vocals which are very reminiscent of Mr. Yorke, but the melodic twists of pop song structures bare close resemblance as well. While this is probably a good thing for the band's success, it's almost close enough in sound to the point of flaw.

Regardless, this EP is great and I'm eager to see what's next from True Womanhood.