Endswell – Everything Confided Will Be Forgotten

Following their 2024 EP, Keepsake, Wisconsin-based Midwest emo, screamo band Endswell have returned with their latest EP, Everything Confided Will Be Forgotten. But this isn’t just another twinkly Midwest emo EP in among a sea of twinkly Midwest emo; it’s a HEAVY Midwest emo EP, exactly what the band set out to create.

2024’s Keepsake was, for all intents and purposes, a Midwest-emo-influenced screamo album. While it had elements of that twinkly Midwest sound, it was mostly raw, edgy, and loud. So when diving into Everything Confided Will Be Forgotten, I was surprised to hear way more intricate guitar playing. And I’m not just talking about them using more sparkly, clean tapping guitar work; this intricacy hit both the clean and dirtier guitar parts.

This is actually what makes this EP stand out. According to vocalist Maxwell Culver, the band set out to “make heavy emo music”, and my God, they’ve done it. While at its core, it’s an emo record, it dips in and out of adjacent genres, like screamo, Midwest-emo, and even post-hardcore at times. There’s clean singing, screams, and even guttural screams at some points – and it works!

If I had to sum up this band, it’s like Tiny Moving Parts meets Rescuer meets Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!. It’s Midwest-emo, screamo, pop-punk/easy-core all rolled into an EP that isn’t nearly long enough. And I’ll say it again, what’s with this new trend of bands adding drum breaks to their songs? I’m not mad; I love it, honestly. I just hope it’s a trend that keeps evolving across genres! This album has so many ingredients that, on paper, you think it wouldn’t gel, but they do. It’s actually impressive.

The band intended for the energy of this album to match their live shows, and while I can’t speak for if that’s true, I can say that this album is packed with that hype you get at live shows, just slightly more polished than a live recording. There’s something in this EP for everyone, whether you’re wanting something to vibe to, something to feel, or something absolutely chaotic. Much like the influences that made this record, the vibe is all over the place but still has that underlying Endswell sound to keep it coherent across tracks.

It’s short but sweet, with eight tracks coming in at just 20 minutes, but it’s enough for you to get a handle on what Endswell are about. They’re melodic, messy, loud, experimental, and tight as hell. And I’m sorry, that introduction to Sorry to Jet, But I’m In A Hurry is plain nasty. To “blegh” on a Midwest emo record is something I think only Endswell can pull off.