No one’s more fun in the post (or present) apocalypse than Tea Eater. Fronted by Tarra Thiessen of Gustaf and Sharkmuffin, the New York City-based art punk band’s made significant waves with frenetic performances, surf-rock-on-Neptune grooves and sucker punch tracks about hating the DMV. Their debut LP “Obsession,” produced and mixed by Drew Vandenburg (Bambara/Faye Webster/Of Montreal) brings a new whirring power to their sound, an invitation to shed your baggage and transmute your neurosis into something worth dancing about.

The earliest Tea Eater tracks were written after a cross-country drive from LA with members of Gustaf in March 2020, when Thiessen submerged herself in meditation, Twin Peaks: The Return and the expected existential crisis. During the summer of 2021 Tea Eater’s debut LP was recorded in Athens, GA with Vram Kherlopian on bass and Alex Tuisku on drums. The result? A soundscape with deliciously crunchy riffs, sci-fi-tinged guitar solos, ethereal harmonies and cheeky lyrics that off-set any real ennui.

“Obsession” is was released on 10/6/23. Listen deeply and you’ll hear that lockdown-era atmosphere of anxiety, gnawing self-reflection and preoccupation on the mundane. But think less and “Obsession” better captures the joys of release from captivity. The celebration of creativity. The reclamation of self. The freedom of expression. The return to irreverence in a new it’s-the-end-of-the-world-again society. – Mary Grace Garis

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