String Machine, the jubilantly poppy, folk-rock-adjacent Pittsburgh Band To Watch, are back today with a new surprise EP.

Turn Off Anything On Again is the group’s first release since last year’s great Hallelujah Hell Yeah. It contains three songs, starting with “Misfire,” a shapeshifter that goes from sax-addled classic rock to something like an electronic pop meltdown. The moody and propulsive “Out Loud” ventures into the Pinegrove zone, but with a lovely string section and fascinating keyboard tone. “I See You The Same” continues to toy around with String Machine’s signature sound, merging blog rock and heartland rock in a way that reminds me of Empty Country. All told, it’s quite the impressive set.

On Bandcamp, String Machine’s David Beck explains, “In August 2023, we went up to my grandfather’s barn and recorded some songs we were working on. No phone service in the Allegheny National Forest. Dozens of saddles in the rafters.” In a press release, he adds, “We took a little break from shows to get our feet under us again. ‘Turn off anything on again’ is a memento to hush the rat race of being in a band to return to a patiently creative place. In the broader sense, it’s a memento to hush the hustles of our lives sometimes to savor the more important things.”

More on the barn, which is located in the Allegheny National Forest:

Grandpa Bob passed away on New Year’s Eve 2022, so it felt like a spiritual thing to be there with the band. We were surrounded by cowboy decor, he had dozens of saddles hung in the rafters of the barn where we recorded. No phone service, only a VCR player and copies of Meet The Parents, Star Wars: Phantom Menace, and Snow Day.

No phone service, hiking trails for miles. A swimming hole down the dirt road, miles and miles of places where you can close your eyes and only hear the wind in the trees. As the next year unfolds, we’re going to commit to the Bob Beck Barn being a sacred, isolated place for us to create and record.

Stream the EP below.