[Cover photo credit to Ginger Port]

Mediocre, the Los Angeles-based Rock duo of guitarist/vocalist Piper Torrison (she/they) and bassist/vocalist Keely Martin (she/her), will be releasing their debut album Growth Eater on September 27th, 2024 on Dangerbird Records. The album spans ideas of “broad existentialism, dystopia and restlessness” which they bring into “commentary on how that angst spills over into daily life.”

Arriving alongside an official video, lead single “Fun Time Fix (We Go Go)” opens the door to escapism while “inviting listeners to dance all your troubles away.”

The band shares:

Sometimes everyone needs a light-hearted time with friends, where you put whatever is causing you pain aside and let go. In the context of the album, which comments on the discomfort of growth, Fun Time Fix highlights the joy and beauty that exists in the midst of all the growing pains. We were inspired by early 2000’s dance pop that acted as soundtracks of our early adolescent years, and wanted to hone in on that nostalgia and what role it plays for blissful distraction during these current times in our adult lives.

After writing songs during their overlapping one-year stint in Boston, Mediocre joined drummer Jake Pavlica and producer Danny Nogueiras (Together Pangea, No Win) in his Glassell Park studio with the goal of “playful experimentation.”

The album title Growth Eater, is one the duo encourages us to look at from “numerous lenses, such as the harmful ways we eat away at ourselves, and by extension, the opportunity for positive growth when one finds the strength to sever bad habits that feast on our well-being.”