”Whirr is a punk band from Modesto, CA” That’s what it says on their BC page. Well, is Whirr really a Punk band? Musically? Or more attitude-wise? We can look at both things now, because their new record Raw Blue is out since late December 2024 and my, my, my it sure is something!
Well, first of all, one must mention that it is basically obnoxious to pinpoint artists into categories. We, as music journalists (wait, did I really just call me a music journalist? Shushhhh) should try to do so for one reason, and one reason only. To give the reader a quick idea of what a band sounds like. You can either do this by categorizing or by FFOs; I hate FFOs, because it drags other bands into the whole thing who might not like being associated. In Whirr’s case this FFO thing might be easy as you can compare them to three bands, two they will surely agree with – My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive – and one they even did a split with: Nothing. But there is a bit more to this band, there is a certain Slo-Core element that bands like Codeine or Indie Rock in the Cocteau Twins-sense. The sound of Whirr is simply beautiful and a bit less aggressive than for example Cold Gawd and when they go for an all-in wall of sound it is a bit less MBV. With all of that being said, it probably becomes clear that they are not a Punk band musically, even though there are certain moments when drummer Devin Nunes really brings out his inner “Animal” and hits his rack feverishly.
Are they “Punk” in a non-musical sense? Well, that might be difficult to say, but they surely do not give a s*** about anyone’s expectations and seem to be in it not for the money, but rather for what they believe they have to say. Of course, that is pretty Punk-ish, as a certain attitude of going against the grain has always been a part of the three-chord-based music’s success formula. Whirr, who (formerly) had personal ties with King Woman and Nothing, make the music they like and this time this music is, please excuse the Pumpkins-analogy, much more ”Today” or ”Mayonaise” than ”Zero” or ”An Ode to No One” (and yes I am aware that I am indirectly saying it is more like Siamese Dream than Mellon Collie…!). It is also somewhat of a punk thing to release a full-length and an EP on the same day with the EP containing two tracks that didn’t make the album even though they were recorded at the same time as the other ten songs over the span of merely three days in late November. That the whole twelve songs were then released basically a month later shows also a lot of confidence in the new material.
And then we still have to talk about ”Enjoy Everything” the final track on the album – these near-eight minutes will now be the mark for any song to be released in 2025 for the amazing elegant track adorned by Kelly O’Donohue’s superb melancholic trumpet solo is pure gold and should be enough for anybody who has not fallen in love with the modest punks from Modesto to do so. By the way – you can now grab their whole Bandcamp discog for a miracle price – just saying. This record is now the gold standard for Shoegaze bands this year. Played by a punk band and all other bands.
