Live photos: Naz Kawakami

Five friends from a mid-size town in Ireland—Katie Ball, Shane Maguire, Mete Kalyoncuoglu, David Noonan, and Rob Clarke, from Dundalk—are pushing out what is quite possibly the most unexpected and exciting sound in rock ‘n’ roll today.

They are the five parts that make up Just Mustard (named for the color and not the condiment), a band that has played with The Cure, toured with Fontaines DC, and is about to release their highly anticipated second album, Heart Under, on Partisan Records, on May 27th. Their first album, 2018’s Wednesday, gave us tracks like ‘Tennis’, ‘Pigs’, and ‘Deaf’—this last song packing a melody that sneaks into your eardrum oozing strife and release, with a crunchy, voided finish. The record is brimming with hypnotism and Lynchian discomfort. It is an album that sounds like it knows you at your worst, and lets you be worse—a comforting sort of uncanny musical companion. 

Just Mustard’s forthcoming album tilts its head, living somewhere slightly above and harder to find than its predecessor, indecipherable and undiscoverable in a midnight mist of fuzz and stalking pedal noise. ‘I Am You’ lumbers, throbs, and thrusts its momentum at you, as Katie’s voice tantalizes, raising you up to some strange blue height only to set you back down again. Heart Under pushes the band’s technical ability with bolder drum patterns and a more unexpected approach to guitar arrangement and effect implementation, while revealing thoughtful yet simple lyrical imagery. I was able to catch them in the lobby of their hotel in New York City for a quick and painfully early morning interview.

Thank you and I’m sorry for meeting me this morning. Is it cool if I condense most of your answers together for the sake of length and clarity?

Yeah, that’d be fine I guess.

You just played two sold-out shows with Fontaine’s DC in Brooklyn. How’s New York been?

It’s been class. Sad to be leaving.