Avataria’s head over heels EP is a punchy set of lo-fi ragers; watch her livestream tonight

When Philadelphia guitarist and singer-songwriter Niki Avataria emailed The Key about her new project head over heels, she was quite direct: “I have a five song EP coming out … it’s really awesome.”

A remarkably confident statement, but one she backs up big time from the opening guitar riffs and howling vocals of “EASY.” It’s a song about diminished expectations, disappointment, and learning to move forward despite them, and as it chugs powerfully along, we hear a clear influence from one of the songwriter’s avowed all-time faves, PJ Harvey. “I thought everything was gonna be easy,” Avataria sings. “Everything was gonna be simple, everything was gonna make sense to me.” The quandary of adulting has never sounded so clear.

Avataria has been recording and releasing music under her last name for almost a decade. Last year, she began releasing a series of monthly singles, and in January she took a big step forward with the inside out EP. The new project rides that momentum further still, delivering rattling lo-fi rock that’s clear and commanding. She delivers bristling punky retro rock a la Dum Dum Girls and Chastity Belt on “the feels” and dives into doomy depths on the bass-heavy “hooked.” On it, Avataria channels the headiest moments of The Breeders and the haze of Deap Vally as she sings “I don’t believe in anything, I’ve heard it all before.”

Listen to Avataria’s head over heels below, and grab a download over at Bandcamp (and dig into her back catalog while you’re there). Tonight, watch Avataria play a livestream set celebrating the new album at 9 p.m. ET on Instagram — more information here.