Overheard
Intertwined
(Dromedary Records)
Intertwined, the debut album of Kingston-based indie-rock band Overheard, maintains a quiet intensity. There are moments of thrashing grandeur, such as on the track “Home,” an eerie-yet-nostalgic song that begins with a haunting, echoey guitar, but ends in a cacophonous breakdown, putting the “rock” in indie-rock. The opening track “Return” builds from jangly guitar and in-the-pocket drums into a budding crescendo with welling drums from Kenny Hauptman, and introduces Erin Barth-Dwyer’s voice, full of refined enunciation and soaring, almost operatic vibrato. “Time on a Good Day,” is a rounded electric bass musing dotted with delicate harmonics. A quivering cello and timpani-like drums complete the almost orchestral arrangement. “This Time” digs into a pendulous 6/8 rhythm, glued together with a spidery electric guitar with a Mac DeMarco-like tone. This is not a one-chord rock band: Overheard are all about layered textures, multi-chapter arrangements, and cliffhanger endings tied together with Barth-Dwyer’s classic, wide-ranging voice. Just when you think she’s hit her top note, she goes higher.
This article appears in September 2025.
