Before this past Audiofeed, I didn’t know anything about Everything In Slow Motion. And so, I didn’t make a point to catch their set, opting instead to reconnect with some friends that I only see a few times a year.

But during those conversations, I couldn’t ignore the anthemic, melodic post-hardcore ringing out from the main stage. As I left the fest, their name stuck in my mind as one to watch out for.

I didn’t immediately go down the rabbit hole, but a few months later, I noticed their name again in the Facedown Records online, alongside some of my favorite regional bands like Comrades, My Epic, American Arson, and Weathered. It was then that I booted up the old Spotify and listened to their 2016 EP Laid Low. 

I was searching for a copy before I even got to the third song.

When I had asked a friend at Audiofeed about Everything In Slow Motion, they told me it was the solo project of Shane Ochsner, the frontman of the metalcore band Hands. But unlike so many other frontman solo projects, it isn’t a singer-songwriter thing. No, this is full-tilt rock and roll—essentially just Ochsner singing with another band. However, it’s much more melodic than his work with Hands. While screamed vocals aren’t absent, they’re rare, and while this EP is certainly on the softer side, it isn’t without its heavy moments.

It’s an interesting blend of heavy passion, atmospheric textures, and heartfelt melodies that isn’t too far away from late-era Thrice or Deftones‘ softer songs (which, if you know me, is just what the doctor ordered).

Laid Low opens with “Coma,” a track that starts with a dreamy, arena ready guitar pulse that transforms into a thunderous barn-burner in the closing moments. “Bad Season” is a midtempo track driven along by a tom-pounding drum line and some heavily guitar licks that sound lifted from an 80s power ballad (seriously—one of the licks sounds like it was borrowed from Don Henley’s “Boys Of Summer”). Obviously, it is my pick for the best track on the album. “I Am Laid Low” opens slowly, an arpeggiated guitar lick augmented by stabbing rhythms from the rest of the instruments. Then after a few minutes, Ochsner raises his voice into a scream for the first time. The rest of the band follows suit, engaging in a metal onslaught before collapsing back into the opening soft chorus.

“Runaway” plays it a little more textbook, its soft verses giving way to a riffy, pounding chorus, Ochsner’s voice soaring at the top of its range, cycling between the two until going into a near-breakdown. In its closing moments, the chorus is repeated, slowing in tempo each time, adding to the trapped feeling that informs the lyrics. Closer “Capella” is a ballad that teases a climax that never comes, Sigur Ros-esque ambient elements building in the atmosphere and flickering out as he sings, “I’m not much of a singer”—which is the biggest lie on the record.

If Laid Low has a weakness, it’s that it’s only five songs long. Each of these songs stands firmly on its own, and while there may be a wide shift in mood between them, the EP feels cohesive. The lower energy of these songs compared to the rest of the EITS catalogue scratches an itch that the rest of their records can’t. But at only twenty-two minutes, it only slakes my thirst for more. Worst case scenario: I just flip it back over to the A-side.