Chicago rock trio Nora Marks dropped the new EP “The Buzzing of Flies” last weekend.
While Nora Marks is hardly new to the Chicago scene, what makes the band’s post-pandemic success so joyful to watch is seeing how quickly they’ve covered such a great distance in such a short time. Developing from the raucous party guys to the (jokingly self-proclaimed) dads of the DIY scene, Nora Marks has helped younger artists along the way, support the scene wholeheartedly and throw a mean barbecue (where they undoubtedly manned the grill).
But none of that means the Chicago trio — Michael Garrity, his brother Matt Garrity and bassist Matt Galante — doesn’t also unleash some rowdy rock on stage as well as on the new EP “The Buzzing of Flies.”
“Sometimes we do joke about being sort of the dads on the scene a little bit,” said Michael, lead vocalist for the band. “That feels like a lot of our role in terms of how I think we want to be perceived and just sort of the general vibe we’re trying to cultivate. Shows that are somewhere where people can go and see people they know, meet new people, everything being pretty laid back and accepting and just sort of chill vibes. Just go, have fun, watch music, enjoy yourself, and take care of each other.”
Such is the ethos of Nora Marks.
The new album, which dropped on Sept. 30 (almost exactly a year after the band’s full-length “Opt Out” debuted) through Chicago’s Take A Hike Records label, takes that vibe and runs with it. In its fast-paced 10-minute running time, it pulls from songs that didn’t quite fit on the last album but also introduces some recent creations in a mix of punk-inspired, aggressive rock bearing passionate and thoughtful lyrics that are a hallmark of the band.
Last year’s full-length expressed some long-standing concerns that had been surfacing for the band — namely the cyclical nature of adult life, attempting to carve out one’s role and the ever-present doubts about the future — and “The Buzzing of Flies” responds to some of those questions.
With a mix of new songs and some held from the band’s last full-length, “The Buzzing of Flies” wraps up Nora Marks’ existing music. “From now we’re totally fresh,” said vocalist and songwriter Michael Garrity. “Everything’s going to be basically new stuff, which is the first time ever in this band that I haven’t had some backlog of songs to pull from.” – Courtesy of Vicki Holda by signing up you agree to our terms of service
In the five songs on the EP, the trio — along with a production assist from Kat and Tony Baker of Hot Mess Records, who Michael credits with helping Nora Marks hone its sound — tackle the new mindsets and growth they’ve experienced since re-emerging from the pandemic’s downtime. One song in particular, “Hunch,” was originally written for last year’s release, and Garrity said it hits differently releasing it a year later.
“I think it kind of works better now because really that song is about the end of that feeling,” he said. “It’s about seeing these ways that you’ve let these, whatever this is, this anxiety, or being so worried about where you fit in, and how you fit in and how people think about you. It’s sort of about getting over that. And that’s kind of what I feel like the whole EP is about, at least for me, in some ways.”
So what has Nora Marks figured out since last year’s release?
On top of further sharpening its sound, Garrity said the band has strengthened its confidence in experimenting musically in real time. They’ve sussed out where they like to play and what kinds of crowds they want to appeal to. And that they definitely like mosh pits at their shows.
They’ve also discovered that the path trod by others might not work for everybody, so they’re working to forge their own.
“Success just looks different to us now. It’s more about being able to maintain our own vision and our own independence, but also to do that in conjunction with other people that we like and want to spend time with and want to share the stage with,” he said. “This has grown pretty much beyond what I thought it would ever get to, so everything is kind of new from here. And it’s pretty exciting. I feel a measure of confidence that we’ll be able to figure it out from here.”
