To start, let’s re-braid some loosened threads in the Eskimeaux narrative. Eskimeaux is the moniker of Gabrielle Smith, a songwriter known to play in Frankie Cosmos’ band, but whose project has been in existence under this particular name since 2007. Smith is a member of the Epoch, a group of friends who identify as a collective and play in one another’s bands. The members of Eskimeaux all front their own projects, and assist in a slew of others — Oliver Kalb is Bellows, Felix Walworth is Told Slant, and Jack Greenleaf is Sharpless.

Now I’ll clarify another potential point of confusion: some of the songs on Eskimeaux’s first Double Double Whammy release, O.K., have been recorded before and are available on Smith’s Bandcamp page. Both “Broken Necks,” which we premiered earlier this month, and “I Admit I’m Scared” have been in existence for a long time, and their quiet earlier renderings have been resurrected and stretched into a more produced, refined sound. Still, there’s nothing recycled about the sentiment behind these two tracks. Regardless of how personable Smith’s lyrics are, “Broken Necks” and “I Admit I’m Scared” illustrate small moments of internal conflict that lead to complex, and unsettling resolutions. On “I Admit I’m Scared,” the interpersonal is intrinsically linked to Smith’s surroundings, “I live inside your room/ And if I reach out with my hand/ The disturbance sends our things/ Crashing down upon my head,” before the concluding catharsis provides a feasible, but impermanent solution to her frustration. Listen to “I Admit I’m Scared” and watch Smith perform the song below.

Eskimeaux – I Admit I'm Scared from Future Sweden on Vimeo.

O.K. is out 5/12 via Double Double Whammy. Preorder it here.