Passing Tide by Senica

Senica’s debut recording ‘Passing Tide’ is something of a coming-of-age Mini-LP. It’s a journey, thematically and melodically, with a jangling sonic energy that's beautiful, jagged, and at times transcendent. There’s a melancholy that is captured in these songs that might only come from a band emerging from the haze of adolescence, a band who have put their all into creating a classic EP bursting with an energy that hasn’t been heard in Christchurch bands for years.

‘Passing Tide’ balances the classic jangle sound of Aotearoa with a modern take on the shoegazing sonic rock of bands like Straitjacket Fits, and fits within the musical landscape of classic bands from Christchurch. But this is no nostalgia trip, and the band cites Wilco and Brian Jonestown Massacre as bands that have supplied inspiration.

The EP feels more like a mini album, with a beginning, middle and end, starting with angst and ending with calm. Now Crystalline, the first track, has singer Theo Tudor worried that the decisions he was making were set in stone, or crystalline, for the rest of his life. Triskeles, the centrepiece of the EP is a lightly psychedelic indie rock number influenced by Radiohead with a pensive, melancholic mood and lyrics that suggest regret for lying, and seeing consequences in others. The song recalls chaotic scenes of 'The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind', with reality crumbling away. The title itself refers to a Triskeleon, which has cosmic implications. Under their feet is a breakup song, with a melody that Theo came up with at the age of 16 during a holiday in Bali. The EP’s final track, ‘Wide Awake’, is a gentle closer, emerging from the turmoil with an uplifting tempo and piano notes ringing like wind chimes in a breeze.

They’re not a band in it for money, like many great Christchurch bands. The band are high school mates, in their late teens and early twenties. There’s some family ties of note - Jai and Theo are cousins, drummer Jesse Stevens’ brother De Stevens (Marlin’s Dreaming) recorded and provided some further instrumentation on the recording, and their sister Jessica painted the cover. Jai and Theo have family in some notable Gen X bands from the city and have a healthy competition “to write the best melodies” which are then judged by the rest of the band. Bass and piano duties are picked up by Oscar Hartley, who learned to play bass for the band. You get the feeling that these guys are great friends, have a healthy way of working and will be a band that will deliver classic music in years to come.

This EP will undoubtedly make many of this year’s best-of lists, and leave you wanting to know what’s around the corner for them.