Before their name became familiar among devotees of American indie rock, The Van Pelt were already carving out a peculiar corner of the underground. Their early landmarks, Stealing From Our Favorite Thieves and Sultans of Sentiment, fused knot‑work guitars with diaristic writing and a half‑spoken urgency that drifted between post hardcore, indie minimalism and what would later be folded into the vocabulary of emo.
More than thirty years after forming around vocalist‑guitarist‑writer Chris Leo, the group resurfaces once again with Remain Obscure, their fifth studio album, landing September 18th, 2016 via Ernest Jenning Record Co. The band pushes outward through piano lines, toy instruments, chants and synth textures that widen their palette, while Leo leans further into full‑voiced singing and the drummer steps forward as a more prominent compositional force.
Its lead single, Kris Is Riding Horses In Ojai,” arrives as a kind of a message aimed at anyone whose inner imaginative world has managed to survive adulthood’s negotiations and pressures.
'Kris is Riding Horses in Ojai' is a call to arms for all the sleeper cells of dreamers who've been dispersed and compromised by life, but who's inner flames can't be doused," Leo mentions.
If their 2023 return, Artisans & Merchants, hinted at renewed momentum, Remain Obscure makes clear that The Van Pelt are still expanding their language while holding tight to the independent spirit that made them who they are as a band.
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The Van Pelt
Cover art by Neil O’Brien
Video by Aaron Ray
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