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RXN_002

by Small Reactions

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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Add to (or start!) your record collection with a physical copy of RXN_002. Get the album on a big 'ol 12" vinyl record. Comes with a download card (containing a digital copy of the album!). Great for DJ gigs, a listening party with friends, or personal listening. Purchases via Bandcamp also come with an additional digital download directly from the site. You'll be swimming in digital downloads along with your LP. Share them!

    Includes unlimited streaming of RXN_002 via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days

      $18 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    A lovely digipack CD you can call your very own. Comes with lyrics on the inside panel. The CD can be easily and painlessly ripped to your computer for a digital copy of the album. Bandcamp also gives you a digital download of RXN_002 when you buy the CD.

    This CD plays well in your car, home stereo, or computer. Really, it can play anywhere CDs play.

    Just in case you are STILL undecided about this purchase, we've added three extra tracks to entice you even more: "Betamax (1981)," "July 3/4," and "Notorious" from our "Notorious" EP from earlier this year.

    Includes unlimited streaming of RXN_002 via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days

      $10 USD or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Both LPs for $30. Not much else to say!

    Includes unlimited streaming of RXN_002 via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days

      $30 USD or more 

     

1.
RXN_002 01:34
2.
3.
4.
5.
Fatal Flaws 03:51
6.
Flagrant 05:11
7.
Seven Two 02:34
8.
9.
Alles 02:26
10.
El Dorado 04:05
11.
Cowboy Up 04:59

about

“Sudden peace at this velocity.”

There is a balance to Small Reactions on their second album, RXN_002. Noise and melody, volatility and composure, pop music and anything but. Following their debut, Similar Phantoms, and a collection of 7”s, EPs, and mixtapes, the album is their most successful, realized version of noise pop to date.

Small Reactions spent the last several years paring down their music to the most essential elements. By focusing on basic instrumentation, simple structures, and few musical cues besides “loud” and “fast,” songs were easily driven to the tipping point, off the tracks and towards destruction. RXN_002 assesses the wreckage, puts the pieces back together, and starts the journey anew where the band left off, to the darker recesses of human experience. Noisy guitars, relentless drums, and hypnotic, melodic bass are all intact, but the tools for exploration have expanded. The sound is something less monolithic, but more nuanced and complex.

RXN_002 hits an early stride with the motorik beat and chiming guitars of “Sessions Street.” The jagged lines and droning, distorted Farfisa in the following track “Controllerhead” bring to mind the artier corners of 70s and 80s post-punk complete with a middle 8 which brings to mind the left-hand turns in early Fall singles. The pace slows with the deliberate propulsion of late album cut “Sliding Glass Nightmare,” a song that deftly recalls the hypnotic, repetitive side of bands like Stereolab and Luna, before picking back up with the paean to and acceptance of loss in “El Dorado” and the closing salvo “Cowboy Up.” Pop melodies are pushed far off center throughout the record, proving that space is always more interesting closer to the fringes.

Thematically, the album is darkest at the center. “Fatal Flaws” deals with exhaustion, resentment, and self-manifested apparitions derived from those moments. Set atop a bed of jangling, Feelies-esque guitars, the juxtaposition between lyrics and instrumentation captures a defining trait of Small Reactions approach to songwriting. “Allés” manages to find comfort in a nihilistic worldview. The dark heart of RXN_002, “Flagrant,” though, is based on a particularly grotesque scene from Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. In a rare moment for Small Reactions, there is no light here. No juxtaposition. And no romance.

Recorded December 20-22 of 2015, RXN_002 was tracked at studilaroche in Decatur, GA with Ben Price. In keeping with their preferred MO, the band primarily tracked the album live with the exception of the glassware, bells, handclaps, and synths. “Controllerhead” was recorded earlier by Jason Finkel at Converse Rubber Tracks, but fit the narrative of the record–an early example of where the band was heading. Jeremy Scott mixed and mastered the record at The Civil Defense in Brooklyn, NY. Clinton Callahan, Scotty Hoffman, Ross Politi, and Sean Zearfoss are the band.

Like the line cutting RXN_002’s cover in half, Small Reactions exist at a point of juxtaposition. The wide gulf between simple, catchy melody and dark, complex chaos has been explored before, but rarely have the results been this exciting. Destroying these songs will be harder.

“We talked ordinarily in a trance.”

credits

released August 4, 2017

All songs engineered by Ben Price December 20-22, 2015 at studilaroche in Decatur, GA except "Controllerhead," which was recorded by Jason Finkel December 2013 at Converse Rubber Tracks in Brooklyn, NY.

All songs mixed and mastered by Jeremy Scott at The Civil Defense in Brooklyn, NY.

Cover art and design by Rossellini Politi. Band photo by Michael Morales. "Autumn," 1915, Auckland, by Robert Walrond. Purchased 1999 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds. Te Papa (A.018208)

Small Reactions

Clinton Callahan: Bass, Vocals
Scotty Hoffman: Guitar, Lead Vocals
Rossellini Politi: Guitar, Vocals
Sean Zearfoss: Drums

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all rights reserved

tags

about

Small Reactions Atlanta, Georgia

Small Reactions play situational pop songs. Relying on the minimal instrumentation of guitar, bass, vintage organs, and drums, the quartet is equal parts post-punk, new wave, and surf.

Their music has been internationally praised by Huffington Post, GoldFlakePaint, Atwood Magazine, The Big Takeover, and more. They've directly supported the likes of Portugal The Man, Mac DeMarco, and DIIV.
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