The time has come for music writers of the world to stop referring to every DIY rock project out of Boston as “off-kilter,” “jagged,” or just plain “weird.” I, too, am guilty of using these tired descriptors to try and artfully narrate the scene’s commitment to often indigestible, math-y time signatures. It’s true; bands out of Boston really dig “angular guitars” and a lot of them worship Pile, but the city has a lot more to offer than just unconventional rock music for the intellectually inclined. Enter Vundabar, an excellent example of the way in which all of the melodic intricacies picked up and defined as the “Boston sound” can easily be repurposed and reordered into pop songs with broader appeal. “Chop” has all of the same yanking arrangements and spitfire drum beats as some of Vundabar’s peers, but their vocal performance and lyrical prose sound untethered to the favored aesthetic of their immediate surroundings. The band will independently release their sophomore album, Gawk, in July on their own label, Gawk Records. The forthcoming LP follows 2013’s Antics; listen to Gawk’s debut single, “Chop” and check out Vundabar’s extensive tour dates below.

Tour dates:
05/14 Atlanta, GA @ Wonderroot
05/15 Athens, GA @ The Globe
05/17 Memphis, Tennessee
05/20 Fort Worth, TX @ 1919 Hemphill
05/21 Denton, TX @ Mold Spores
05/22 Houston, TX @ Mangos
05/23 Austin, TX @ Swan Dive
05/24 Dallas, TX @ Crown and Harp
05/25 Albuquerque, NM
05/27 Los Angeles, CA @ Warehouse
05/28 Los Angeles, CA @ The Lexington
05/29 San Francisco, CA @ Neck of the Woods
05/30 San Luis Obispo, CA
05/31 Davis, CA @ UC Davis
06/01 Dublin, CA
06/02 San Luis Obispo, CA
06/03 Los Angeles, CA
06/04 Orange County, CA
06/07 Boulder, CO @ Haus
06/09 Omaha, NB @ Lucy’s Pub
06/10 Madison, WI @ Shone Den
06/11 Chicago, IL @ Hobo Spaceship
06/12 Ann Arbor, MI
06/13 Toledo, OH
06/14 Columbus, OH
06/19 Boston, MA @ The Womb

Gawk is out 7/21 via Gawk Records.