Song of the Day: Ephrata - Where Have You Gone?

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on The Morning Show with John Richards, is "Where Have You Gone?" by Ephrata from their 2015 self-released single.

Ephrata - Where Have You Gone? (MP3)

Running chiming guitars and melodic vocals through a hazy, swirling filter, Seattle's Ephrata split the difference between shimmer and shoegaze. Guitarist/vocalist Brady Hall originally began the project with a series of songs before being joined by guitarist/vocalist Skadi Von Reis Crooks, and later, bassist/vocalist Jules Jones and drummer/vocalist Ben Bromage. By 2014, the project was beginning to find legs in the band's hometown of Seattle, sharing bills with Frankie Rose and Yuck, playing an impressive and ridiculous 16 shows at SXSW (complete with a hilarious tour diary), as well as a plethora of local bands, and releasing a series of often comical videos to go with their sporadically released singles. (A full LP of songs is yet to be released.) Their latest single, "Where Have You Gone?" finds the band further sharpening their harmonious structures. Balancing their The Sundays-via-Lush sweetness in the verses is a crushing post-punk build (and release) at each verse's end. "Where Have You Gone?" does all the things that Ephrata have been doing – jangling hooks delivered with a beautiful, smothering sound – but across four magnetic minutes, the song shows itself to be the best crystallization of their luminescent noise to date.

Ephrata's next show is April 8th at The Sunset with Hookworms and Disappears. Find out details of that show here, and keep an eye on their Facebook and website for more dates and music. Below, watch their recent video for "Say A Prayer".