EP: eternal tourist - natural rat

words: indigo baloch

Eternal Tourist is the debut EP from grungy-pop Natural Rat, and it’s a promising glimpse of how far this band has the potential to go. This band is everything you could want — dreamy, dark, sharp, and boppy. Kelsie Cannon’s light, birdsong voice flutters over the eerie wail of guitar and keys, the harsh gritty beat of drums. It pulls you out to the mountains of West Virginia—their homeland—with its twang and earthy energy. It’s hanging out the window of your car that’s going up and up, deeper into the woods, reaching your hands out to touch the branches you pass. It’s looking over the edge of a cavernous canyon of white water and falls. It’s got this longing to it—a desire. It’s something to play at top volume as you lay in the cool grass at night, catching your breath after running through the darkness like a phantom. It’s the sound of living and aching and dipping your toes into freezing creek-water, feeling the current ripple over you and carry part of you far far away.