Mattress Food | photo by Jordyn Lyric | courtesy of the artist

Sometimes old songs are worth holding onto so long that they become something totally new. That was Mattress Food‘s approach to their new EP — three of Slap City‘s four tracks are re-recorded versions of older songs, written in the days before the band became a band and reinvented for their current state of being.

Formerly the solo project of vocalist/guitarist Sami Rahman, Mattress Food is now a four-piece band, and the cohesion that comes with working as a collective unit is apparent across Slap City. The EP channels the band’s noise punk roots into a smooth, refined sound, filled with embellishments from sax to strings that add a new depth and make the breaks of raw noise even more potent.

With Wallace Gerdy (of Wallace) on lead guitar, Paul O’Connell on bass and Adam Figurelle on “drumz,” the current incarnation of Mattress Food is proof that noise and innovation can exist on the same plane. Slap City is out now via Bandcamp; listen below.