Listening to 37 Houses and their new EP “Strangers” feels entirely like stumbling into an intensely intimate therapy session that miraculously transforms into a sweat-soaked 90s indie rock show.
The San Francisco quartet operates as an open diary for lead singer Erin Sydney and guitarist Jeremy Rosenblum. Trapped in lockdown a mere four months after their wedding, their music processes the bewildering grief, angst, and stubborn unconditional love of navigating a polyamorous marriage. This EP, serving as a visceral preview for their upcoming album “When and How it Happened,” bristles with unpolished, post-punk energy. On the title track “Strangers,” an ascending, blindingly bright melody crashes over heavy rhythms, tackling the terrifying vulnerability of cracking yourself completely open to a partner.
Mapping uncharted romantic territory usually leaves a few bruises. “Honesty is Everything” asks a deeply uncomfortable question: what if absolute truth-telling destroys the very connection it was meant to save? Rapid, cascading notes loop into nervous propulsion, mirroring the exhaustion of endless emotional compromise. Then comes “Helium.” Backed by Rosenblum’s wall of gritty, buzzing guitar distortion, the track captures an urgent, desperate willingness to siphon off your own vitality to keep a struggling loved one afloat.
The band refuses to sugarcoat the devastation. “Eye For an Eye” corners you in pure, loud-quiet despair, starting with a brooding pulse before detonating into chaotic, soaring catharsis. It all sounds fiercely, almost uncomfortably alive.
We constantly crave profound human connection, but at what point does unyielding transparency finally break us?
