Album Of The Week: ear Rumspringa

There’s a thin line between nostalgia and creation. One of the most fascinating aspects of the 2000s revival has been hearing old reference points collide in new ways. Though the loosely defined “indie sleaze” craze amounted to little more than cosplay for some artists, most famously the Dare jacking James Murphy’s swag, a giddy swirl of influences at play in Bassvictim’s music creates the sense of one foot planted in the past, one in the future. So it goes with ear.

The basics: ear are a two-piece electronic twee band (or “indietronica” if you must) comprising Jonah Paz and Yaelle Avtan, formed at Bard College two years ago and now split between London and Upstate New York. Their band name is partly inspired by a His Name Is Alive song. After building buzz with their 2024 debut single “Nerves” and their 2025 debut album The Most Dear And The Future — a surehanded statement of ethos and aesthetic in just 16 minutes of audio — they became one of the first acts signed to A24 Music, the record label run by the prestige film production company and distributor A24. This Friday they’ll release their second album, Rumspringa, and they’re being so secretive that we’re not allowed to share the album cover until the music’s out.

Like Bassvictim, ear’s music instantly evokes the 2000s, but they fit the pieces together in distinctive ways, forming exciting new shapes. There’s a lot of indiepop in the mix — Paz also released a twee solo album called Exit last year — but also glitchy IDM, atmospheric post-rock, found sound, slowcore, bursts of blaring sawtooth synths. Imagine the Postal Service’s indie synth-pop as reinterpreted by the earnest Icelandic minimalists múm, or the hushed vocal duets of the xx soundtracked by sonic collagists the Books. Yet for all its Y2K-era touchpoints, ear’s music also makes sense in conversation with current artists like avant-rock abstractionists caroline or “emo ambient” cult hero claire rousay. It’s not for nothing that “Nerves” got a boost from inclusion on Spotify’s CPH+ playlist, which centers on Copenhagen’s booming alt-pop scene.

In other words, ear are kindred spirits with anyone who is channeling deep yearning into whispery, electro-organic outpourings. Rumspringa is full of intimate expressions often whittled down to a few open-ended phrases, then obscured by their drowsily mumbled delivery. You feel like you’re hearing Paz and Avtan’s deepest longings, maybe even burblings from their subconscious. But in practice it’s more about sentiments than specifics, which pairs well with music that feels like stepping into someone else’s dreams. 

Named for the Amish practice of letting teenagers live outside the community’s strict standards as a way of sorting out their life trajectory, Rumspringa is billed as a “choose life” album, but ear are being coy about what the phrase entails. Promo materials elaborate that this music is about how pursuing personal independence can be destructive or beautiful. Although the lyrics leave a lot unsaid, they are a crucial animating force for the music itself, as Paz explained evocatively in a No Bells interview last year: “We spend most of the time on sound selection, because once you know the thesis of the song it’s basically just collecting evidence.”

It’s no surprise, then, that the source material can often be inscrutable too. “That’s our favorite thing is sounds that are secrets, even from each other,” Avtan told No Bells. “There was certain stuff that I sent Jonah where it’s like, ‘You can’t know where this is from, just listen to it as a sound.’” Paz added, “So much of the sauce for us is intentionally not telling each other what we’re doing on the track, and then we end up with a fun lexicon of stuff that we work from because there’s a lot of stuff that we haven’t said out loud.” Paz and Avtan are sensitive introverts and self-described gatekeeping enthusiasts, so it’s almost too perfect that they’re holding some things back even from each other. Yet if the pair retain some mystery in their working relationship, they’re also closely attuned to each other. “The way we make music is basically looking over to the other to see what facial expression they’re making,” Avtan told The Face. 

On Rumspringa, that emotional dance leads us somewhere between a place and a state of mind. Squealing synth melodies descend upon the clicking, murmuring lead single “Ne Plus Ultra,” piling up like a freak blizzard. “Threads” makes beautiful use of a twinkly music-box keyboard melody, sampled dialogue, and whirring synth oscillations. The lo-fi bedroom-pop guitar strums of “Nothing’s Open” give way to “F,” a track that reminds me of Burial’s brisk adventures through the London nightlife. For 30 minutes, ear wield familiar tones and textures with the confidence and creative excitement that comes with youth. They might not let you all the way in, but you share in their sense of epiphany as they reshuffle nostalgia into the soundtrack for a new generation’s memories.

Rumspringa is out 5/29 on A24 Music.

Other albums of note out this week:
Boards Of Canada's Inferno
Paul McCartney's The Boys Of Dungeon Lane
Kurt Vile's Philadelphia's Been Good To Me
Feeble Little Horse's bitknot
Iceage's For Love Of Grace & The Hereafter
Rare DM's Attention
Elder's Through Zero
Villagerrr's Carousel
Balmora's These Graven Halls
Kim Petras' Detour
Greg Mendez's Beauty Land
Turnover's Down On Earth
The Bug Club's Every Single Muscle
Callahan & Witsher's Sorry to Hear That
Guided By Voices' Crawlspace Of The Pantheon
Francis Of Delirium's Run, Run Pure Beauty
Latto's Big Mama
Cole Berliner's The Black Door
Joshua Ray Walker's Ain’t Dead Yet
Violet Grohl's Be Sweet To Me
Sparta's Cut A Silhouette
Dogstar's All In Now
aespa's LEMONADE
Saint Agnes' Your God Fearing Days Are About To Begin
Ghinzu's W.O.W.A.
Veps' ChurchyardStreet 8B
38 Spesh's 8 Shots
RaiNao's Marcria
Mark Trecka's Romance Wake Naming
Scottie Miller's Hello Pain
Mad Iris' Mad Iris
Don Williams' EPILOGUE: THE CELLAR TAPES
Shinedown's EI8HT
The Greenberry Woods' It's All Good, Sugar
Young Miko's Do Not Disturb (Deluxe)
Static Dress' Injury Episode
YG Kayboe's Blood On The Pen 3 Mixtape
Widemouth's No Gasoline
HECATE ENTHRONED’s The Corpse Of A Titan, A Lament Long Buried
Yottie's CASINO Mixtape
Rosie Carney's doomsday (night tapes)
Gigi Masin's Movement
District Five’s GLUT
GODTHRYMM's Projections
TRUEANDTRUE's NOSEDIVE
KÁRYYN's PHYSICS UNIVERSAL LOVE LANGUAGE (PULL)
Oakwood's Blurred Away
Monolord's Neverending
Phoenix James' Teeth
Tenroc's God Is A Person
JP Soars & Anne Harris’ Gypsy Blue Revue
The Hands Free's Upturned Cup
The Maureens' Don't Give Up
Wev's OST
Danalogue's Teleportations
Lenka's Good Days
Doublespeak's Doublespeak
Devin Townsend's The Moth
Camille Camille's Enchanted Sea
Kris Tiner & Cathlene Pineda's Sung
All Them Witches' House Of Mirrors
Susto's Susto Stringband (Volume 2)
Lennie Rayen's Entertain The Space
Tory Silver's In Through The Front With Lasers
Kikù Hibino & Merzbow's Rococo ∞ Echomatter
Tomorrow Tomorrow's Dwelling
Renée Fleming & Béla Fleck's The Fiddle And The Drum
David Torn's i imagine a place not the same
Paper Pools' Everything
Russ Irwin's King Of A Thousand Fools
Lyra Pramuk's Hymnal (Resung)
Keyland's Knuckle Sandwich
Vic Bondi's Vic Bondi And His Issues
Labrinth's COSIMC OPERA ACT II
Funebrarum's Beckoning The Void Of Eternal Silence
Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts' As Time Explodes Live Album
The Who's Live At Eden Project 2023
The Fall's Singles Live Vol. Two 1980–83
Ducks Ltd.'s Modern Fiction (5 Year Anniversary Edition)
Various Artists' Power Ballad (Music From The Motion Picture)
Various Artists' K-POPS! (Music From And Inspired By K-POPS! Motion Picture)
Various Artists' Where The Willow And The Dogwood Grow
The Monkees' Good Times! (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)
Voka Gentle's Domestic Bliss: Remixes
KulfiGirls' Divinity (Deluxe Edition)
Hunx And His Punx's The Punkettes EP
Eli & Fur's Dreams At Dusk Pt. II EP
Opal Mag's Goodbye Lavender EP
DOSS' DOSS EP
Crimes Of Passion's Coasting EP
thistle.'s backflip EP
Heavee's Mainframe EP
John Gallagher Jr.'s Almost OK EP
Saint Harison's ghosted EP
Siyahkal's Corrupt EP
Ablation's Lethal Abuse EP
KIMIKO's Modern Dance EP
Maiah Manser's Fifth Dimension Part 1 EP
Wesko's Familiar Spirits EP
Kuleeangee's Love & Affection EP
Heidi Curtis' Hollow Heart EP
Rules' As Soon As I Get Home EP
Ayase's dialogue EP
Die Twice's Accept Me Like A Lie EP
Sierra Spirit's Rodeo Clown EP
corook's How do I relate to you? EP