The Canadian group Bonnie Trash stepped into 2024 with My Love Remains the Same, a three song EP that, despite its bite-sized length, creates a layered soundscape which will leave you craving for more.  Although having gone largely under the radar since their conception, Bonnie Trash’s new release poses them for success.  This project hearkens back to the foundations of post-punk and shoegaze while simultaneously creating its own sonic atmosphere that reflects this band’s gothic horror influences.  The songwriting of founding members, twin sisters Sarafina and Emmalia Bortolon-Vettor, has been able to shine through with the recent addition of a powerful dedicated rhythm section to the lineup. 

The leading track, "Kisses Goodbye,” combines fuzzy guitar effects and a distorted bass tone which encapsulate the heartbreaking lyricism of lead singer Sarafina Bortolon-Vettor.  Although the band’s preceding projects have incorporated the external horrors of folklore, this song submerges itself in the intrapersonal terror of trying to let go.  The bittersweet lyrics evoke the complex longing experienced after a hard breakup.  “Kisses Goodbye” lacks the typical power of Bortolon-Vettor's vocal character, but this works in favor of the lonely atmosphere that the track is creating.  This song is much more comforting than the rest of the EP, with spacious vocal effects and whirring riffs that are reminiscent of early shoegaze.  Taking elements from some of the best like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, Bonnie Trash creates a spectacular, if not characteristically misleading, introduction to this chilling EP.

The band’s new rhythm section makes a statement in the second track “What Have You Become,” with a pounding kick drum that drives the song from beginning to end.  Sarafina’s passionate vocals are now in full swing with this track, as they compete to swallow her sister’s harsh guitar tone.  Wallowing drones add an underlying intensity to the song that makes it feel like a 90’s horror film is trapped within the mix.  If “Kisses Goodbye” is the tragic love song of the EP, “What Have You Become” is the spiteful revenge story that follows. 

The last track is a terrifically sludgy cover of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ “Red Right Hand.”  The Bortolon-Vettor twins sound as though they have zombified the track with their signature gloom.  It’s difficult to imagine that this song isn’t originally written by the band because it fits perfectly with their typical foreboding ambience.  A chugging and doomy bassline with gnawing guitar feedback gives the song a post-rock spin.  Sarafina’s vocal delivery does justice to Nick Cave’s iconic gravelly baritone, while also adding a feminine quality to the track which ensures that the gnarly instrumental isn’t too overpowering.  This is a cover that in no way feels tacky, it pays tribute to the original while also engulfing it in Bonnie Trash’s own fearful flare.

With Halloween just around the corner, My Love Remains the Same is the perfect project to listen to.  With horror seeming to be utilized more and more solely for the sake of vanity and aesthetics, the equally passionate and haunting nature of Bonnie Trash’s new release is a breath of fresh air.  Tune into WGSU to listen to Bonnie Trash and other up-and-coming hidden gems, our 24/7 rotation of alternative tracks will have something just for you. 

Kyle Bulger is a Freshman at SUNY Geneseo and currently hosts "The Undertow" on WGSU, Tuesdays at 5PM.