In conversations about Fugazi (and the evolution of hardcore and emo in general), most of the talk focuses on two bands: Minor Threat and Rites of Spring. And while the importance of those projects cannot be ignored, there is one project that is tragically overlooked.

That project is Embrace. While Ian MacKaye’s road from Minor Threat to Fugazi had a few detours along the way, none of them foreshadowed what was to come more clearly than Embrace.

Like most bands in the 80s DC hardcore scene, Embrace existed for less than a calendar year (that year was the so called Revolution Summer of 1985). The project had already parted ways by the time their single studio album was released. But despite this brevity, Embrace did a lot to transition hardcore into emotional hardcore—a term MacKaye has always bristled at.

While no future members of Fugazi handle an instrument on this record (the rest of the band were borrowed from his brother Alec’s former band), it’s easy to see how the dancing bass lines and chiming guitars would have pointed Ian in the right direction. The instrumental work is far less aggressive than straight hardcore, borrowing elements from post punk and new wave, even when Ian barks over it.

But those hardcore shouts are rare. His delivery is often clean, shifting into shouts or spoken word on a whim. And while Fugazi wasn’t even a glimmer in his eye yet, his vocal style here is practically identical. You can almost hear Guy shouting in response just out of range of the mics.

While this record is worth more than a footnote in the history of one of punk’s greatest bands, it’s impossible to listen now without the shadow of Fugazi looming over it. But the reason for that is that Embrace offers a better vision of the future than any other pre-Fugazi act. Where the origin story has often been simplified to “Minor Threat plus Rites of Spring,” Minor Threat’s inclusion is almost only due to their notoriety. In actuality, describing them as “Embrace but with the Rites of Spring guys.”