The Water Cycle are here to take you back to the trappings of young love, goofy smile and all.
Their new EP, The Water Cycle Falls in Love, is a fun little ode to romance with the purest of intentions. The entire album feels like a collar tug and clearing of the throat on the way to prom. It’s sweaty palms and tripping over your feet, a flush building under your skin, innocent even when the subject matter turns a tad cheeky.
The band is composed of Rob Capodilupo and brothers Jack and Joe Kerwin and came together when Capodilupo approached the elder Kerwin at a performance held by their university. The two bonded over folk punk, traded demos, and created the Water Cycle – well, not that water cycle. Since then, the band has had one other EP, Other Boys, but the boys are sick of “coasting on five songs” and ready to release the next wave of “goofy love songs.”
DIY pop takes on several faces in this EP – from lo-fi surf rock to twangy foot stompers, The Water Cycle Falls in Love demands for you to get up and jam along. The band are 50s influenced and create a “sort of DIY/jangle pop/bedroom pop sound” that has drawn comparison to Jonathan Richman, twirly haircuts and all. The music inspires the same energy from which it draws inspiration, with quintessential coming of age tales twinged with small town New England flare. Joe succeeds in his goal of “taking little moments of insecurity and trying to use those to communicate bigger ideas.” Although he is a junior in college and wants to avoid “writ[ing] about high school for the rest of [his] life,” the romanticism he sites as inspiration for the EP’s lyrics are a genuine articulation of someone who knows themselves and the source of their anxieties.
The Kerwin brothers are based out of Medfield while Capodilupo hails from Easton and there is plenty of local love felt for and by the band. They’re already staples in Boston’s DIY scene and have worked with the student-run, Northeastern-based record label, Green Line Records.* The DIY ethos is central to the band, who originally recorded their EP in the summer but scrapped the original mixes when they felt over-produced, opting for a stark sound that would be closer to the experience of seeing them live.
Seeing them live is something you can easily do at your nearest DIY venue; the band’s favorites include The ER, blockbuster video, and Shed Cellar, giving props to the venues’ prerogative of inclusivity. The band even filmed part of their music video at a house show; the video also features loitering in parking lots and mirror karaoke done in the bathroom of a certain, established literary magazine’s headquarters.
When you like what you hear, you can see the band’s release show on Saturday at the Farm with Edgar Clinks, Wet Mut, and Puppy Problems!
Doors @ 8 | All Ages | Event | Donations Taken @ Door
*Full Disclosure: The author is a proud alum of GLR and hopes you check out more of their bands.