Underlined Passages are prepping to drop their upcoming album, A Quiet Condition, which is dropping September 10 via Mint 400 Records. In taking a unique approach to their album roll out process, Underlined Passages released the closing track to their album, “Bright Eyes,” as the record’s leading single. 

Michael Nestor and Roger Stewart have been putting out records together since 2015, but say that A Quiet Condition is the clearest representation of their sound that they have made. In taking a more quiet sounding approach than their previous album, The Accelerationists, which they released in 2015, the duo has shaped their sound even more to represent who they are to their listeners. 

Nestor’s guitar skills shine through on the track, with their layers still being the colorful representation of sound that they embodied on the previous work of the band. This time, they decided to have the vocals further back in the mix of track. The vocals on the track do not push towards a certain thing, but rather the duo sits there with what they are describing. As Stewart’s drums hold the things together, it creates a more quiet vibe than the work that they were releasing before. 

Underlined Passages have noted their influences of Nada Surf and American Football, which most certainly come through on this track. The heavier, more downcast pull, that the band describes the track to have, is something a bit closer to the Deftones or Thursday sound, without the volume. 

The album lyrically represents the specific kind of middle-aged disappointment that the duo wanted to convey through the record. They describe the sense that whatever you were looking forward to is not actually coming, and that there is no clear moment where you find this out, it just becomes true. The song titles on the album reflect the wear of this specific feeling, as well with “Futr” dropping a vowel, and various tracks marked as “mx,” as they were not finished. “Bright Eyes” closes the record with a closing point of where the album leads, “pointed at a life spent scrolling through feeds and AI slop,” as the band describes.

The duo has had a long history of collaboration and releases together, fueling the solidification of their sound that is represented on A Quiet Condition.

A Quiet Condition is out on September 10, via Mint 400 Records.