• Track Listing

One Step Closer signal a sea change with Songs for the

Willow. With last year's This Place You Know, the band

had already mastered a unique stripe of mournful melodic

hardcore informed by eclectic emo influences. But on

Songs for the Willow, they've tapped into a dynamic,

emotionally powerful, and sonically intricate post-hardcore

space inhabited by the charged aura and artistic nuance of

landmark early 2010s records like Title Fight's Floral Green

and Touché Amoré's Is Survived By. But ultimately, Songs for

the Willow moves this sound forward into new territory.

While frontman Ryan Savitski explored clean singing on This

Place You Know, he expands his vocal repertoire further

here, pushing himself to an even wider range of styles and

methods, from soaring highs to breathy lows and rousing

harmonies. He makes for a spirited lead and consistent

presence while guitar work from himself, Ross Thompson

and newcomer Colman O'Brien weave sundry, compelling

layers, never content to linger on one riff for too long.

"All three songs revolve around the problems that touring

so much this last year have caused," Savitski says of

the thematic melancholy running through the EP. "Losing

relationships, losing band members, losing a sense of

what this band even means to everyone." Savitski is still

grateful for the growth his band experienced-they made

memorable appearances on some of hardcore's biggest

stages (Sound and Fury, This Is Hardcore, and Outbreak

festivals), supported scene staples on tour (Comeback Kid,

Drug Church, Terror), and had This Place You Know land

on respected publications' Best of 2022 lists (Stereogum,

BrooklynVegan). But Savitski also recognizes the sacrifices

they made along the way, and that struggle imbues itself in

the EP's desperate tone. "I feel like this last year was the first

time we've truly felt like a real band, but there were so many

issues underlying that it made it hard to enjoy a lot of things."

All along, there's an insistent, relentless forcefulness to each

performance. After already cementing themselves as the

best young band reviving genuine melodic hardcore, One

Step Closer have now proven themselves as virtuosos of the

impassioned post-hardcore mini-epic.