Cayetana Are Reborn, Still Glorious on New Single “Bus Ticket”

Cayetana's four-track split EP with Australian powerhouse Camp Cope got a little buried last year, not least because Camp Cope had their own full-length—one of Noisey's favorites—drop around the same time. But it was as close to perfect as a melodic punk EP could get: lean, melodic, restless. Cayetana's "Mesa" still hasn't lost any of its fizz after a thousand listens, so it makes sense that the Philadelphia trio led with that as the lead single from their forthcoming New Kind of Normal LP. In April, we had another sample of the band's new work with the heart-twisting balladry of "Certain for Miles," one of Augusta Koch's finest vocal performances, a track that sped from melancholy to nicotine-burned screams without shifting its focus an inch.

And now we have "Bus Ticket," the third single from the record, a pop-punk track so perfectly constructed and deployed that you can't see the seams. The band told The Fader that it's about "mentally hitting rock bottom, and realizing your own inner strength can be the tool to pick you back up." And so it comes forward with jagged verses that stare down the darkness—"I'm adjusting to this medication"—before exhaling into huge, shameless choruses. One of Cayetana's greatest gifts is knowing what not to do in a three-minute punk song. It's not over-thought or mangled by overplaying. Kelly Olsen, a deft drummer when she needs to be, focuses mostly on hitting things as hard as she can in-time; Allegra Anka sits slightly off the beat, just enough to skew the rhythm without pushing the bass above the mix. It means that even after listening to "Bus Ticket" half a dozen times—and you will, just to start—you still won't feel any one part of it jab at you. It's just one massive, glorious gut punch.

Listen to the track below, via The Fader.

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