Camp Trash have been a big deal on emo Twitter for a while now despite not actually releasing any music. The burgeoning hype is probably related to Keegan Bradford — an editor at The Alternative and a highly active Twitter presence, who has hosted quarantine emo nights over Zoom with Stereogum contributors Ian Cohen and Arielle Gordon — being in the band. Whenever someone with any amount of clout in a certain scene starts a new musical project, you always run the risk of that project coasting by on social goodwill. Fortunately, now that Camp Trash have shared the lead single from their debut EP, it appears they’re legitimately very good.

The band, whose members are spread out around the country, claims influence from the likes of the Get Up Kids, Oso Oso, and Something Corporate, and you can certainly hear all that in “Weird Carolina,” our first preview of the imminent Downtiming EP. Eve 6 guy also identifies some Built To Spill resemblance in the vocal melody, which Bradford confirms. And, as you’ll hear, there’s a well-executed lyrical reference to James Taylor.

At Brooklyn Vegan, the band explains that several of the songs on Downtiming were written before Camp Trash officially formed, resulting from Bradford and Bryan Gorman “exchanging voice memos and song ideas while living in different cities.” Bradford adds that “Weird Carolina” is about “moving away from places you love, and the people you love moving away from you, and how those places are usually Georgia or North Carolina.”

Hear “Weird Carolina” below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Bobby”
02 “Sleepyhead”
03 “Potomino”
04 “Weird Carolina”

Downtiming is out 1/22 on Count Your Lucky Stars. Pre-order it here.