With enough time every storyline is told, but for Sharkmuffin and their new Gamma Gardening EP, it’s one unlike anything you’ve heard before. The Brooklyn trio have been releasing records for the past seven years with a focused blend of punk, garage, surf pop, and shoegaze influences, but their latest EP takes the once NPR tagged “glam-grunge” band deep into art-rock territory with their own sci-fi concept album. Based around Serpentina, a space dominatrix with a day job as receptionist for a gene editing lab and her new “designer baby,” Sharkmuffin have built a world that explores the dystopian future, in both it’s most colorful and darkest turns. There’s sex, snakes, and plenty of sci-fi intrigue, inspired by workplace boredom and a fear for a genetically altered future of super babies.
Sharkmuffin have been playing and touring since 2012, led by Tarra Thiessen (guitar/vocals) and Natalie Kirch (bass/vocals). Gamma Gardening finds the duo joined by frequent collaborator turned full fledge Sharkmuffin, Jordyn Blakely (drums/vocals). With all three members contributing to the songwriting, their latest is a cohesive vision of the band, an adventurous record that travels cosmic depth while retaining the punch and energy of Sharkmuffin’s best music. Influenced by everything from The Shangri-Las and Nirvana to Broadcast and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the trio tear through anthemic and artistic rock songs full of grandeur and blistering intensity. Their music is instantly catchy and vibrant, offering more than meets the eye as their layered recordings build to new heights and back again into primal glam punk charm.
There’s a reckless mentality thrown into the mix, but the songs are fully realized and the story arc of Gamma Gardening is both wondrous and ultimately heartbreaking. Dissatisfied with the stagnant New York audiences, Sharkmuffin make music you can move to, music that feeds on energy and urgency. The band have toured Europe, the UK, and the US, with further touring planned for 2019 in support of their new record and beyond. As one of the cities most exciting bands, the trio are shredding and thrashing their way into new territory with an entire experimental galaxy to explore.