Darkness as always

“I don’t want to try to explain my songs,” Lemuria’s Sheena Ozzella sings. Dark, but not hardcore – that’s Lemuria. “Omitting you, I get to brood in Diogenes’ tub,” Diogenes being the ancient Greek cynic who scorned society and carried a lamp by day, claiming to be looking for an honest man. Scholarly stuff for an indie rock band, yes? But that’s not the point. Lemuria’s music has, in the past, been less Diogenes-inspired public theater and far more private. Listening to those early songs feels more like eavesdropping. “If it was something I wanted to tell you,” chants Ozzella, “I would have already done so.”

Lemuria began in 2004 in Brooklyn. Initially, Lemuria was Alex Kerns on drums and vocals, with founding bassist Adam Vernick and Ozzella, who plays guitar and fronts the trio with a thin, sweet, almost waiflike voice that attaches to no emotion. The band toured almost nonstop, recorded more than a dozen 7-inch records, splits, and compilations, an EP, and have since released four full-length albums, including last year’s Recreational Hate. Through a decade-and-a-half of touring and changes, Kerns and Ozzella have remained the band’s core, which included Jason Draper on bass for a time after Vernick departed, then bassist Kyle Paton, and now, replacement bassist Max Gregor.

Ozzella: “The harder I struggle, the more I feel the rope.” The first version of Lemuria was musicians who didn’t know how to play their instruments. But it’s a solid group today, with the same no-frills punch disguised as happiness. Same inner Lemuria darkness as always, served on a bed of cheery poprock not unlike that of the Muffs or the Lemonheads. But Recreational Hate feels less about Lemuria and more about their listeners. Fifteen years on the job has improved their songwriting focus and maturity. “I want to be somebody. I want to be somebody else.” What a band does: they grow up. They find their own depth.