Immerse Yourself in Hodera’s Reset To Default

New Jersey indie rock band Hodera released Reset to Default a while back, a collection of five honest, emotional songs that feel brisk and slightly folky. They also have a punk grit that results in explosive moments with screaming gang vocals that help bring a few songs to a huge, resolute ending. Combining a more soft, story telling atmosphere with their hard rock mentality, Hodera is often successful at conveying the deep feelings of the lyrics through the instrumentals.

“Just My Instinct”opens up with an intricate guitar riff that introduces Matt Smith’s full, bold voice as well as his experiences with apathy, “All that I can say is that I’m afraid / When theres really nothing to keep me going.” The song ends in a climax, with a heavy riff and pounding drums that really get across the frustration of the lyrics. “Tell Me Something I Can Do” shares a similar theme, yearning for a connection or something that matters while the instruments spend most of the time in a dreamy state of growing melancholia.

“Creature Comfort” gets more upbeat, and contains a bass and drum line that bounce in sync as Smith holds down the verse with a quick delivery. The guitar and vocals create a serene yet painful feeling during the chorus, with painful oh’s and the repeated line “let go again, my dear.” The ending of the song sees Smith getting out of control over all these feelings, screaming in line with the rest of the hollering instruments. The title track is overflowing with emotion, especially on this song Smith delivers lines with a sense of conviction similar to that of Weatherbox‘s Brian Warren. As he explains his lack of ability to “Reset To Default,” the song rotates through melancholy sections that are spiced up by some cool drum fills. About three minutes in, the band takes a moment to quietly step back and set up for another climactic ending, which turns from a chorus of “everything’s okay” to a way more honest and crazy screaming conclusion. The final track, “She Knows Because She Read It In A Book Once,” ends the EP in a grand way, Smith tackles issues like having “all your emotions caged like a lion” and “little pills that numb depression” while the instrumentals close out in full, heavy fashion.

Hodera’s Reset To Default is one of those releases you need to listen to all the way through multiple times before it really clicks. The emotional stake the band takes in the songs is real and apparent, and their style of folk/punk rock allows them to take those feelings from the soft and sullen to the loud and dynamic. Listen to Reset To Default and check out an acoustic session of the title track below.

 

Image via Sonic Bids.