You don’t have to work too hard to make sense of the grunge in Simple Forms‘ new single. Called “Into Midnight,” it’s a four-minute cruncher that puts its double-guitar configuration to progressive use in atmospheric flourish that calls to mind some of what’s happening in European prog-heavy right now, bands like Iron Jinn or even Messa and a slew of others delving into sounds that might be disparate or dissonant in order to bring something specific to a given piece. The Portland, Oregon, five-piece were last heard from in June with the standalone “And Only Days” (posted here) and before that, it was January when they unveiled “Unprecedented Uncertainty” (posted here). You’d almost think these things were run on a schedule.

Naturally, I have no idea either way, but when Simple Forms started rolling out material publicly, it was this way as well. After four songs and much “members of” hoopla given the band’s associations with YOB, Norska, Hot Victory and Dark Castle, , they compiled them into their early 2023 self-titled debut EP (review here), which was a burner. If they’re going the same route — and again, I don’t know this — they’re at three singles, so maybe one more and then another four-tracker. And hey, if you wanna make math of it, you put two four-trackers together and that’s an eight-song LP. Kind of a nice way to make it easy on yourself, at least potentially, and taking their time has allowed Simple Forms (going by appearances on the listening end) to explore different styles around their basic underpinning in generalities like “heavy,” “doom” and so on. Jason Oswald sounding as established as he does here fronting the band is also its own narrative thread.

If you’re feeling, I don’t know, nuts?, I guess you can link back to all the other posts about the other songs — I’m fairly sure they’re all accounted for. If you’re not one for rabbitholes, the stream of “Into Midnight” is below and the rest is on their Bandcamp, which is where the minimal blue text below was sourced:

Music recorded at Red Rockets Glare in Portland, OR
Engineered and Mixed by Dominic Armstrong
Mastered by Adam Gonsalves at Telegraph

Simple Forms:
Jason Oswald – Vocals, Synth
Ben Stoller – Drums
Aaron Rieseberg – Bass
Dustin Rieseberg – Guitar
Rob Shaffer – Guitar

https://www.facebook.com/Simple-Forms-2159388204175112
https://www.instagram.com/simpleformsnw/
https://simpleformsnw.bandcamp.com/

Simple Forms, “Into Midnight” (2023)