When Naomi Punk’s debut LP The Feeling came out in Spring 2012 on Couple Skate records,it felt new and unpretentious. Not in the sense that it was without influence. There’s plenty to pick apart in their music. The band isn’t afraid of writing pop songs, the same way other bands like Sonic Youth and Nirvana would draw out huge hooks from dissonance — but their sound is very much their own. Though they initially began as a collage project, and their website is little more than a couple images, a list of some bands they like, and contact
info, Naomi Punk, are, at heart, a trio that just wants to make good songs. Together, Travis Coster (23), Neil Gregerson (20) and Nicolas Luempert (20) carefully construct perfect,wild rock songs that feel sentimental, like they took Kate Bush’s sonic imprint and complex melodies and constructed fuzzed out rock around them. Luempert’s drums tumble and
pound, but still leave plenty of room for empty space, allowing Gregerson and Coster to conjure up these hooky, almost primitive, guitar lines that sound so obvious it seems like everyone should be imitating them. But they’re not, and through a rigorous series of tours over the last three years, Naomi Punk has developed a devoted following. It’s no surprise either, tracks like “Voodoo Trust” sneak up on you. It burrows into your brain — the chorus knocking around your ears way before you even figure out what they’re singing.
