Square Loop releases 3 singles leading up to their second LP!

Massachusetts based emo band Square Loop dropped their third single “Out Of Sight / Out Of Mind” January 13. This release followed two songs (“Short Breath” and “I Spent The Week Inside”) that the band dropped in early December, and is a precursor to their second LP “The Longest Distance Between Two Points” coming in February.

This trio release is the first we’ve heard from Square Loop since their last LP came out in 2020, and we have definitely been longingly awaiting to hear from them again. The first song of the three, “Short Breath” itches exactly what we needed to scratch. It is very reminiscent of their last LP— upbeat and playful drums, mathy guitar influences, and lead singer Dave Zielinski narrating through each thought that might go through your head while you having a freak out. Lyrics like “Open the windows again, To finally let some air in, The air is thick enough, It's almost heavy to the touch” really give listeners that same weight on the chest feeling that comes when one is freaking out, almost as if the air is too thick to make it through your lungs. The chorus line “take a short breath” pulls you out of that spiral and reminds you that panicking doesn’t do you any good. You just have to take that first breath.

We really feel like this was a great introduction to LP2; “Short Breath” does an excellent job of reacquainting listeners with everything Square Loop is about, while also opening the floor for a more mature sound that we will hear in “The Longest Distance Between Two Points” come February.

The second of the singles “I spent the week inside” is a slower, more somber quarantine song. We’ve heard a lot of quarantine songs come out of the last few years, but Square Loops does theirs a bit differently— Instead of outright discussing the state of the world at the time, Zielinski focuses specifically on the fuzziness those days seemed to have had. He sings about not waking up until the afternoon, and not eating for the first time of the day until dinner time. This blur of time passing without having any events or obligations to show that time was even still moving was a really strange experience, and I think this song expresses it really well. The chorus droning a repetitive “cause everything’s so fucked” at the end really drives home that despondent and desolate feeling.

The third song, released separately from the first 2 feels a bit like a mesh of the other songs. The energetic drums contrasting with Zielinski’s dejected lyrics really give the impression that these instrumentals are holding the narrators hand and pulling him along through it. There is a really good build leading up to a horn part towards the end of the song, and we are of course huge fans of horns in emo music. The horn solo later accompanied by the full use of the kit, and the screaming of the final chorus really come together for a huge, and full ending to the song, and way that the singer screaming drones on for just slightly longer than the rest offers a nice come down at the end.

Overall, this trio release leaves us very excited to hear more— Which is not surprising because Square Loop’s first LP was one of our most listened to albums of 2020. We definitely recommend you give the songs a listen, and keep an eye out for “the longest distance between two points” out February 10th!!

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