Big Eyes

Since their inception in late 2009, Big Eyes has been a musical chimera. Their distinctive heavy sound glides between punk, power-pop, and hard rock, while their songwriting retains an unwavering classic pop refinement. On their latest album, Streets of the Lost (released April 5, 2019 on Greenway Records), Kait Eldridge, the bandleader and songwriter behind Big Eyes, combines straight shooting New York punk sensibilities with moody, brooding pacific northwest undertones, evoking a sense of both places the band has called home. Rounded out by the Ridenour brothers, Paul on guitar and back-up vocals, and Jeff on bass, and Scott McPherson on drums, Big Eyes’ sound has never felt richer, darker, and more lived-in.

Fuzzy, driving riffs on the opening track, "Hourglass," unfurl the adventure you're beginning, and bring forth visions of motorcycles propelling ever forward. Dual lead guitars, thoughtful flourishes, and an insightful utilization of harmony and melody are spread tastefully throughout the album, showcasing Big Eyes' studied knowledge of timeless songwriting. Like the mythological chimera, Eldridge breathes fire with her passionate vocals on the title track: “These people always pass me by/Once more I’ll never cross their minds."

Her lyrics pierce the heart, exuding loneliness and isolation. This is the soundtrack to the John Carpenter movie about a gang of scruffy runaways you wish he’d made. Inspired by the 1983 Mary Ellen Mark photo-essay of the same name, Streets of the Lost is an album that speaks to anyone skirting around the edges of society: the punks and street-dwellers, the revolutionists and experimenters, the forgotten and the lost.