Album Reviews: Six New Records From Vermont Artists

Every week, Seven Days gets new music from Vermont artists. To keep up with the deluge, music editor Chris Farnsworth occasionally takes on six releases at once. From brand-spankin’-new LPs to records that almost slipped through the cracks (emphasis on the latter this time around), here are the freshest sounds from the Green Mountains.

Step Twin, Dust Bowl

(Self-released, digital)

Oh, to have a time machine. I’d travel back to an American high school in the 1990s, just to tell all the white boys that their beloved strain of angsty alt-rock would come back in vogue in 2026, largely thanks to marketing trends and legacy acts reuniting. We’d all be straining to shout “poseur” and “sellout” first.

What, then, to make of this new wave of grunge? Burlington’s Step Twin are an excellent case study. Duo Peter Benjamin and Nick Skarmeas dropped their four-song debut EP, Dust Bowl, in February.

The band channels the doom and sludge of Alice in Chains on opener “Dust.” Featuring plenty of yowling and spoken-word passages, it would have slotted in comfortably on 99.9 the Buzz’s modern-rock playlist in 1998.

Step Twin know what they’re doing, however, and keep their tongue firmly in cheek. For all the brooding textures, the songs have a sense of humor, such as when the band uses the metaphor of eating a hot dog to tackle existentialism on “Dog.” Over a plodding bass line and almost tribal drums, Step Twin craft a moody piss-take of a tune.

“Life is like a dog, with condiments involved,” Benjamin sings. “So chew me up and spit me out / Everything is over now.”

Key Track: “Reap”
Why: Step Twin give their grunge the “MTV Unplugged” treatment.
Where: steptw1n.bandcamp.com

Bluephonics, Bluephonics

(Self-released, digital)

Former Blues and Beyond guitarist Tim Howe is back with a new band called Bluephonics. A gifted player and composer whose music exists at the intersection of schmaltzy yacht rock and breezy blues and jazz, Howe is joined by drummer Taylor Starbird and bassist Danny Roda in a seriously chilled-out trio. They released Bluephonics in September 2025.

Whether navigating tight turns and thick grooves on instrumental opener “Be Here Now” or indulging its hothouse-jazz side on “Open My Eyes,” the band purrs like a perfectly tuned-up highway cruiser, ready to hit the road in supreme comfort.

The record takes a few pop-rock detours, such as “Sagittarius A,” which suffers from a torpid melody. But the band bounces right back with an atmospheric, late-night slice of slow-burning R&B on “Feeling Something’s Wrong.”

It’s a strong debut from an experienced crew of Vermont bluesmen stretching their wings just enough to bring fresh textures to an otherwise dialed-in sound.

Key Track: “Wooden Ships”
Why: The only cover on Bluephonics, the song finds the band tackling the Crosby, Stills & Nash tune with aplomb.
Where: Spotify

Taken Alive, This World Is Exhausting

(PNWK Records, CD, digital, vinyl)

Formed from the ashes of several other bands post-pandemic, Taken Alive are a New England emo and pop-punk outfit made up of musicians from Vermont and Connecticut. After debuting in 2022 as NRVS, the band rebranded and added members before releasing its first single, “Movies on Repeat,” as Taken Alive in 2023.

The quartet dropped its debut album, This World Is Exhausting, in March, a 10-track collection of radio-friendly pop punk, raw power screamo and slickly produced hardcore-leaning jams. The band has a knack for crafting huge, anthemic choruses, such as on “Spinning,” which captures the emo power of a Thrice song, and the electronic-flavored banger “In My Head.”

Taken Alive are no basement DIY band but rather a group that carries enough power, sophistication and studio prowess to make a push for bigger stages befitting their massive, pump-your-fists-in-the-air and jump-in-the-pit tunes, such as “Subscribe to Stay Alive.”

Key Track: “Circle Life Advice”
Why: The closing track captures the band in all of its modes, from introspective, melodic verses to a vocal cord-shredding chorus of pure rage.
Where: takenalive.bandcamp.com

Eloise & Co., avec Elodie

(Self-released, CD, digital)

When accordionist Rachel Bell and fiddler Becky Tracy of Brattleboro’s Eloise & Co. joined forces with Canadian piano phenom Rachel Aucoin in 2018, the connection and chemistry between the musicians was so potent that they planned to start on an album the following year. The process was put on hold during the pandemic, however, and that hiatus eventually stretched longer than four years.

In October 2025, the trio finally released avec Elodie, a gorgeous and lush instrumental record that allows each player plenty of space to shine and interact with one another in equal measure. The album’s songs have a truly timeless quality, and not just because some of them are traditional balfolk and Celtic folk tunes. A kind of ethereal magic passes between the women as they link up on “Bal/Dejol pont de Lion”: Aucoin’s fingers dance across the keys in a tense, building figure before Bell and Tracy soar in to join her.

Key Track: “Haven”
Why: It says something about the trio’s skill that its own compositions can stand beside the record’s traditional tunes.
Where: eloiseandco.bandcamp.com

Fossil Record, The Ruins of Iapetus

(Self-released, CD, digital)

I don’t know if this is a purely Vermont problem, but having a music community with such a strong jam band presence can irk the poor folks in progressive rock. The line between the two genres has always been blurry, and while jam acts have no problem getting tagged as prog, you do not want to mislabel a prog band as a jam band. Trust someone who’s been properly cursed out for doing so.

Props to Burlington’s Fossil Record, the first band I’ve seen describe its sound as “anti-jam.” Indeed, the band’s debut LP, The Ruins of Iapetus, released in January, is by no means an extended jam. An eccentric and introspective collection of prog rock, ’70s British pastoral folk, jazzy interludes and nigh-orchestral movements, the record rarely goes where you think it will. At nearly 10 minutes, opening track “Rust” feels like five songs in one.

Whether fans of classic Yes or King Crimson will find the kind of prog rock they want on The Ruins of Iapetus is debatable; the band skews closer to Gentle Giant or the Strawbs with a strong vein of folk whimsy running through songs such as “Vienna ’38” and “Maple Street.”

Key Track: “Wishing Well (pt I): Overture/Bees”
Why: I’ll probably get an email about this, but there’s a wee bit of Phish in the tune.
Where: fossilrecordvt.bandcamp.com

Chris Clark, Across a Carnival

(Self-released, digital)

Every now and again, you come across a new artist who sounds like they should have a 20-album discography already. West River Valley singer-songwriter Chris Clark is just such a dude.

It seems almost inconceivable that Across a Carnival, released in August, is the first record from Clark. From the world-weariness of the Americana foot-stomper “I’m Trying” to the gorgeous, minor-key folk instrumental “Behind the Screen Door” to the deceptively simple country grandeur of “There You Are,” the songs feel like they’ve existed for decades.

Some of that worn-in quality is due to the production; Hungrytown’s Ken Anderson produced the record, and it sounds suitably covered in dust, with Clark’s deep, at times gravelly voice riding easy atop simple yet evocative arrangements. But it’s Clark’s effortlessly authentic songwriting that gives the record its real power. When he’s in full troubadour mode, as on the road-worthy “Never Look Back,” Clark’s music becomes a story you have to finish.

Key Track: “Sparks Around Almost”
Why: A sedate, mournful tune streaked with harmonica, the song showcases Clark’s vagabond melodies.
Where: chrisclarkband.bandcamp.com