Kali Masi is more than your run-of-the-mill punk band, and they want you to know it. Despite comparisons and hooks reminiscent of bands like Taking Back Sunday and The Gaslight Anthem, they don’t just want be a rehashes version of those bands. In fact, their new album [laughs], is a perfect representation of the passion they have for their music, focusing on finding out who we are as people and celebrating all of the craziness that comes with it.
The Chicago-based group, led by singer/guitarist Sam Porter, turn their inner reflections outward, breaking free from any chains that may have held them down previously. A great example of this is their new song (released today), “Trophy Deer” — which finds Porter reflecting on the sanctuaries of our youth and growing out of previous versions of ourselves.
“Those coveted things that we really identify with when we are growing up, as you get older and they don’t quite fit anymore, I guess it’s like you’ve cast yourself into a role you wrote when you were a different person, and it doesn’t feel right,” he explains. “There’s a loss of identity there, and those things that once were very liberating become very oppressive and limiting if you aren’t willing to embrace and invite change, even when it means suffering some hardship in letting go in the name of growth and finding yourself.”
Kali Masi’s new record, [laughs], is a collection of ambitious songs, musically and lyrically, centering around the universal truth that the power and courage to be who we are is and always has been inside of ourselves — rather than in the arms and minds of those around us. Porter shares the earnest narrative of feeling out of place both in your hometown and your own skin, and exploring that alienation as we strive for growth. The wailing guitars and powerful drums complement the urgent calls for clarity and understanding, noting the crushing emptiness of loss contrasted by the bittersweet reminiscence of youth.
