Esta Coda is the latest punk band to hail from the Northeastern Pennsylvania scene that brought us The Menzingers sand Tigers Jaw — both of whom they have performed with for many years. The connection is further than just openers on shows, as Tigers Jaw’s Ben Walsh made an appearance on their 2015 EP, and Brianna Collins even designed the artwork for their new EP, King Bitter, which is due out tomorrow, December 7th.
King Bitter was produced at Studio 4 in Conshohocken, PA by Grammy-nominated producer Will Yip, who has even worked on all of the band’s releases so far. Esta Coda has been closely affiliated with Yip outside fo their own music, coming from guitarist Jay Preston working with Yip as an assistant engineer on a albums by bands like Balance and Composure, Title Fight, and many more.
Before the EP’s release tomorrow, we are excited to team up with Esta Code to premiere one of their new songs for you today, the title-track “King Bitter.” It’s something that falls walks the line of punk and alternative-rock masterfully, starting with commanding guitar and vocals before slowing down and then jumping immediately into a chorus that wouldn’t have sounded out-of-place on Transit’s Listen & Forgive.
“I had initially written the song without any definitive lyrics. I remember while we were at practice, I was mumbling some unintelligible string of words as placeholders and sort of stream-of-consciously sang: “king bitter.” The image struck me, and the other guys seemed to like it, too. It’s sort of this manifestation of your own bitterness towards whatever, and inadvertently granting it authority over yourself and your life, and how we can sometimes mistakenly cast that sense of bitterness on others,” Esta Coda guitarist/vocalist Daniel Rosler tells Substream.
“I think this was an unconscious projection of my own bouts with cynicism which, for me, seems to grow with age, and always produces this sort of imperfect lens through which you view your own past, glorifying moments of youthful, springtime abandon, of when you and your friends seemed to have more time or maybe the period in your life before a personal tragedy, like losing a loved one. It can be very easy to fall victim to nihilism. But this is sort of a circular trap we get stuck in. By focusing in on any singular memory, we ignore everything else that surrounds that memory, so it’s by its own nature a false impression of moments which we sell ourselves as our own personal narrative. And focusing on this hurts us; we miss the present if we’re always looking back, which I know sounds like an obnoxious truism, but perhaps we need reminding. I know I do. I have a lot to be grateful for in the now.”
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