OK Cool’s latest EP is a surrealist strain of homegrown indie rock.
artwork by Louise Gagnon.
When my friends and I decided to see the artist Your Arms Are My Cocoon—a local screamo bedroom-pop crossover project—the night was full of surprises. I didn’t expect to find myself in the back of a room that presumably used to host mass, to be crammed in with all five of my friends on an old couch, or for YAAMC’s (very nice) girlfriend to intensely ask what our favorite birds were while in line for the bathroom. Above all, though, I didn’t expect to find my new music obsession: OK Cool.
After the first opening act, a band called Annie’s Takeout, OK Cool took the stage. If not for their position in front of the crowd, I wouldn’t have been able to pick Bridget Stiebris and Haley Bloomquist out from the rest of the group of casually-dressed young people crowded inside the rundown building. I barely had time to process that these two people were the next performers before the duo immediately launched into “Five Finger Exploding Heart Technique.” It didn't take much longer for me to realize that there was something really special happening on stage. Halfway through their performance, I already knew I wanted to write an article about OK Cool. I pulled up their Spotify profile on my phone and realized why I hadn’t heard of them before—at the time, they only had 600 monthly listeners. I was surprised they were still such a small act, considering how well their music toed the line between accessible and exciting.
The music itself is a slick combination of shoegaze and midwest emo with a garage-y style of production. On Bandcamp, OK Cool’s biography declares that they’re “two tiny tiny rats with a dream of one day becoming human.” After the show, I reached out to their Instagram and asked if they’d be interested in being interviewed; they were so kind and responsive that we had a date set within two days.
I bought OK Cool’s cassette tape after the show, which I’ve had on repeat ever since, and I’ve added their songs to what seems like all of my playlists. Their most recent record, Surrealist, is the perfect blend of comfortable and nostalgic music with emotional and vulnerable lyrics. Surrealist’s name comes from the matter of the songs on the record; they’re about introspective problems and abstract thinking. The record’s cover is a photograph of a person standing on the side of a dirt road, with their back turned to the camera as they look out into a sparse forest. The person’s head is on fire, exploding into a mass of flame.
A recording of a cat’s meow followed by a voice saying “Scout, shhh,” begins the first song on Surrealist, “I Should Buy A Sword.” An electric guitar picks up, with simple, strummed chords. The sound is calming and sentimental. Then, the vocals come in:
“I never thought i'd be so desperate
for awkward human interactions
and sketchy bathroom floors,
i miss the great indoors”
The song’s vocal track sounds like it’s being played out of an old recording device—slightly crackly and raw; I had to check and make sure it wasn’t just because of my cassette player. The drums come in and the song picks up, and you’re hooked. The musical chemistry on display from the start of the record isn’t surprising: Bridget and Haley’s joint music career didn’t start with OK Cool. Haley played in a cover band that was looking for a drummer, and Bridget reached out on Facebook and joined. Bridget played in a band that needed a bassist, so Haley filled the role. They both currently play in a band called the Weekend Run Club. All in all, the two estimate that they've been playing music together for five years.
OK Cool was started during the pandemic, they tell me, when the rising unemployment rate meant that everyone had extra time on their hands. The band’s first single “I Can’t Stand in Ice Skates,” was released in May of 2020, with the duo’s first EP, Anomia, following soon after. While these early projects provide a look into the beginnings of OK Cool’s distinctive sound, Surrealist is by far the band’s most polished and comprehensive work yet.
“Five Finger Exploding Heart Technique” is the second track on Surrealist. The tone of the song seems to be set by the initial fun and catchy guitar riff which the rest of the instrumental follows, but, like all the songs on Surrealist, its lyrics spill complex and melancholic feelings onto the track:
“came up to offer me a ride,
but i've been walking this whole time.
said i'm no proper lady,
said i'm gonna burn up when i die.
well i'll try”
During our conversation, Haley explained that Surrealist was their first time taking a holistic approach to songwriting. Previously, the two had each written parts only for their own instruments. Anomia was them getting their bearings, throwing things at the wall to see what stuck, and finally with Surrealist, the duo has developed their most defined process so far.
One of the most distinctive differences between the two works lies in their respective vocal tracks. Bridget emphasizes that she doesn’t consider herself a singer, but says that it wouldn’t make sense for anyone else to try to sing her lyrics. In trying to make her vocals clear and prominent on Anomia, her musical style was lost. The vocals on Surrealist don’t take the same pop approach as the band tried in the past; instead of being front and center, Bridget’s vocals are yet another textural element of the complex tracks.
“Hertz 2B” plays third on the record. Despite the song’s heavy drumming and yelled vocals, the home-y, midwestern guitar riff ties the darker tone into the rest of the project. Then comes “Hypervigilant.” With a layered, washed out, and echoey vocal harmony bursting through the noisy guitars and modulated bass, it evokes more than any song the cover of the record: the haunting image of a head wreathed in flames. Still, an upbeat and catchy guitar riff continues to tie this song to the previous two. The lyrics of “Hypervigilant” end on another heavy note:
“i wanna burn all my photographs,
i keep letting this shame hold me back.”
The record comes to a close with “Divers,” a track that perfectly ties it together. The song starts out slow with a deep and plucky bass line that leads into a melancholic verse whose plainspoken words lay Bridget’s feelings out clearly on the track. She sings higher and the track begins to boil over: pounding drums, screaming layered guitar riffs, and yelled vocals charge the moment with so much feeling that you can’t imagine the record ending. And then it does.
Both members of OK Cool are proud of their perseverance in the creation of Surrealist. Haley tells me that she pushed her limits writing in difficult time signatures and playing instruments that she wasn’t familiar with. The songwriting process for this record was long and arduous, Bridget adds, but she’s glad for the pair’s determination to keep working at it.
When I asked them what aspect of the record that they’re most proud of, or want listeners to notice and appreciate, they were grounded, honest, and funny: “We want people to listen to it and like it.”
Their favorite songs on the record? They both laugh, insisting that this changes often and that it’s hard to say. Haley loves playing “Hertz 2B” when performing live, and Bridget is a big fan of “Five Finger Exploding Heart Technique” and “Hypervigilant” (my favorite as well).
If you’re looking to support a small, local band, I would definitely recommend checking out OK Cool’s online merch store, following their Instagram for gig updates and new song releases, and checking out their music videos on YouTube. Prior to Surrealist, OK Cool had already distinguished themselves from other acts in their genre of indie rock through their heartfelt writing and authentic, midwestern sound. With the new haunting and dreamy textures of Surrealist now in their repertoire, OK Cool has elevated their music. Whether they continue in this style or explore different ideas, these two rats will surely achieve their dream of one day becoming human.
Surrealist by OK Cool is out now via Big Milk Records. Buy/stream it here.
edited by Tatiana Jackson-Saitz, editor of Reviews.
artwork by Louise Gagnon.
album artwork believed to belong to either the publisher of the work or the artist.