For all the recent talk of emo’s resurgence there are certain acts from the genre’s earlier waves that have remained unheralded. Yet, if Chicago’s Kittyhawk is any evidence, the lasting resonance of bands like Rainer Maria and The Anniversary hasn’t waned, even if their band names pop up less frequently than some of their peers. On Hello, Again–Kittyhawk’s debut LP for Count Your Lucky Stars–the band takes the push-pull dynamics of Rainer Maria and tosses in the hummable keyboard lines that made Designing A Nervous Breakdown such an under-appreciated gem.
In the video for “Welcome Home”–which The A.V. Club is premiering below–the band shows off its adventurous side, as its members (which include Dowsing’s Erik Czaja, and Into It. Over It. collaborator Kate Grube) join a cult and take down a poisonous concoction, one that ends up sending them to heaven for a knock-down, drag-out pillow fight. It’s all in service of a song so subtly infectious that it makes the act of drinking Kittyhawk’s Kool-Aid less a suggestion, and one that listeners would willingly guzzle.