The young Connecticut band Anxious comes from the hardcore scene, but the band’s music isn’t really hardcore. Instead, Anxious specializes in a sort of revved-up melodic emo that sometimes comes out as full-on pop-punk. (Title Fight are a clear influence.) The band released a two-song EP called New Shapes at the end of 2020, and they dropped a cover of Elliott Smith’s “Bled White” earlier this year. Today, the band announced that they’ve signed with Run For Cover and that they’re working on their debut album. They also dropped a new single.

The new Anxious track “Call From You” is big, catchy, impactful guitar-pop jam that sounds, in its small way, like a hit. Anxious recorded the song with The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die’s Chris Teti producing, and it’s got some serious juice and energy to it. Anxious share members with One Step Closer, the Wilkes-Barre band who also recently signed with Run For Cover and who are also working on their debut album, and those two records are both reasons to get excited. Talking about “Call From You,” Anxious vocalist Grady Allen, who also plays guitar in One Step Closer, says:

I like “Call From You” because I think it’s a synthesis of both what the band has done before and new things we are experimenting with. The entire thing is unapologetically melodic — maybe even poppy — but still maintains some of the roughness I think the band has always embodied, at least in my opinion. With this song we were really focused on dynamics: the drums are propelling and heavy, the guitar is low and intense, but the vocals are softer and understated. I think all these components intersect in a really cool way. Lyrically this song was really interesting to write. It’s not about an event or a singular problem — it focuses more on a broad issue I have with communicating with other people. I have a real tendency to stress over every conversation and interaction I have and tend to fret that I have said something completely stupid/wrong/uninteresting. In the song I tried to attack both side of the issue: recognizing that these anxieties are ridiculous and probably misguided BUT also overwhelmingly real feeling and hard to avoid.

Check out “Call From You” below.

Also, Anxious just contributed a really good song called “The Long Spring” to the compilation America’s Hardcore Volume 5. Here’s that:

The “Call From You” 7″ single is coming soon, and you can pre-order it here.