It doesn’t seem like post-punk and hardcore would have much to do with one another. Besides both being offshoots of punk, they went in very different directions. Post-punk took a more cerebral approach to punk’s minimalism, while hardcore turned up the volume and the violence. To anthropomorphize them a bit, if you took them to a party, post-punk would spend the night leaning against the wall and silently people-watching while hardcore would be drunkenly rough-housing.

But despite the disparate gaps in personality and ethos, there is a common ground to be found. Take for instance El Paso newcomers Lesser Care, whose debut combines the insular, brooding aloofness of post-punk with a pent-up aggression that is palpably a few moments away from bursting.

The sonic palette is primarily pulled from post punk’s arsenal: clean, single-note guitar lines bristle with sharp reverb. Bass lines are dark and threatening, playing Peter Hook-like melodies over drum grooves that would sound robotic if they weren’t played with so much brutality. Synth pads hover over pulsing riffs. Vocals spend most of the record in an affectless baritone.

But the precise mixture of the elements isn’t consistent throughout the record. The balance shifts as the record goes on. “Shadow” opens the record with a post-punk blueprint that’s more or less textbook (in a good way). The icy chill of Joy Division and the Cure is more or less unaltered. “Meadow” even has a resemblance to Slowdive.

But as things continue, the carefully measured machine whirring at the center of the record begins to pick up more and more steam. “Between You” almost feels like a segue between moods. The song is dominated by a thick bass synth pulse while drums skitter on a restrained hi-hat beat and vocals retreat further into the atmosphere. If guitars are present at all, they are imperceptibly subtle.

But after this breath, Lesser Care seems to roll up their sleeves. The last two tracks are almost straight hardcore punk: “Placement” cranks the energy way up as the drums play almost twice as fast as any other track and the vocals bark angrily. Closer “Validation” isn’t quite as ferocious, overall, but it does feature a blast beat part, so it’s hardly as restrained as the first half of the record. Yet for all of its pummeling melee, it’s still buoyed by chilling synths and atmospheric guitar.

It’s a sophisticated metamorphosis. Listening in context, it’s subtle enough you might not realize how much raw energy the band had picked up until you go back to the first track. It’s masterfully done, especially for a debut. This is one new act that’s caught my attention for sure.