Enumclaw w/ Nitefire + Compass & Cavern

Lost Lake Presents Enumclaw with Nitefire and Compass & Cavern on Tuesday, April 4 —

Enumclaw is Aramis, guitarist Nathan Cornell, drummer Ladaniel Gipson, bassist (and Aramis’ younger brother) Eli Edwards. Working alongside producer Gabe Wax (Soccer Mommy, Crumb, Fleet Foxes), Enumclaw’s Save the Baby delivers an album where on each track the band plays with dynamics while taking their songwriting to the stratosphere. The grinding guitar on lead single “2002” is no match for Aramis’ soaring chorus, while the music of “Jimmy Neutron” evokes the romantic, wind-swept feeling he sings about propelled by an instantly memorable riff. “Cowboy Bepop” feels like a ripcord letting loose and flapping behind a car on a joyride.

The opening self-titled track is divided by a valley of murky haze, sending the uptempo rock of its first movement into the lighters-up moment of its closing section, all thunder and heft. Aramis exclaims his satisfaction with the take before the recording abruptly cuts off, the first in a series of earnest insights into the joy of getting to achieve the band’s ambitions.

On “10th and J 2,” a striking, pulsating rock song tinged with melancholy, Aramis sings of destiny, something he believes in greatly. “It really felt like it was my last shot to make it out of here, from a mental perspective, from a career perspective,” he says about writing and recording Save the Baby. As he plays the chords of “Apartment” on acoustic guitar, he sings, “Hey! You’ve got one last chance! / Why not give it all that you can?” It’s essentially a letter to himself, a reminder to put his all into pursuing a childhood dream. For himself, for his loved ones, for all the people he’s known who never made it out of the cycle of trauma.

Save the Baby is an album about stepping into your purpose, about the determination it takes to not give up on yourself in the midst of heartbreak and setbacks. It’s not a stretch to imagine a younger version of the band getting a glimpse of the future and freaking out by knowing their destiny of making it as a rock star has landed on their doorstep. — Martin Douglas

– 16+, under 16 admitted with ticketed guardian