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New Music Tuesday: Hanging around with Heliotropes

Heliotropes released their debut album A Constant Sea on Manimal Records in 2013 and their video for “Everyone Else” off that release features a cameo by Brokelyn family member, Caroline Shadood, who manages the band. It’s weird to think that a city as large as Brooklyn could be a “small town” vibes wise, but it really is. Or I should say, it can be.

Day in and day out you run into the same faces waiting for the subway, walking down the street, or buying cheap 99 cent beers at the corner bodega. It’s kind of nice. Or maybe horrifying when you’re just wanting to run out unnoticed to buy a frozen pizza and a box of fungal cream or something. The video for “Everyone Else” depicts a chunk of those familiar, small town-ish moments that Brooklyn can provide in between stretches of hectic bat-shittery.

The hang-outs featured in this video are ideal, so we asked Jessica Numsuwankijkul, front person for the band, to describe her most recent UN-ideal social setting. Here’s what she said:

“The last time I wanted to truly flee from a party was around Christmas, this horrible party on Knickerbocker Ave. I’m assuming it was directly after SantaCon because I went up on the roof and there were men dressed up like Santa pissing off the ledge and vomiting. One Santa was a bro from Florida and he kept talking about getting fucked.”

Heliotropes
Not a girl band

Alongside bro santas with potty mouths, another pet peeve of the band as a whole is the use of the phrase “girl band” to describe what they do.

There’s an epidemic in the music industry lately that is proving to be more toxic than autotune, Spotify, and album leaks combined. What is this epidemic you ask? It’s the lazy, mindless, carelessly common-place usage of the term “girl band” and Brooklyn’s Heliotropes want no part of it. They’re quick to point out that they are not, in fact, a “girl band,” but rather, “A band,” and though it’s good that they call it out to people who don’t know better, it’s sad that people still don’t…know better. To even bring up the term “girl band” feels wrong, in that it summons the idea of such a thing to the front of your mind, but it’s important to point out that if you thought something along the lines of “oh, look at this girl band” while watching that video, you’re wrong and should go sit under the bed for an hour and think about what you’ve done.

Heliotropes just finished their second album , which just might be out the next time Santa Con vomits into town.

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