Idaho Green– Double Ashley / Virgelle to Victor

After crossing paths with Idaho Green at a Halloween show we played together years ago, I quickly fell in love with the lo-fi quartet. We shared a mutual love for their fellow Montana-based legacy punkers, The Lillingtons, and that’s bond that can never be broken. The Big Sky fellas are back with a grimy new EP that’s catchy as all get out. As much Fifteen at its core as it is Dinosaur Jr. is is on the edges, the whole thing is glued together with a Superchunk feel that once again showcases the band’s ability to highlight the best elements of the last four decades of music and still deliver a cohesive sound to a new generation of kids on the fringe.

The new EP feels like a classic Side A / Side B with “Dreams of Double Ashley” and “I Will Wait” holding up as stand-alone pop tunes. Sugar sweet with a fuzz punch attack, it’s nasty guitars and impassioned distorted vocals in all the right ways to keep your toes tapping. “Virgelle Victor” and “Polly Pocket Will Have Her Revenge” (nice nod to the Nirvana classic, “Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle”) have a wilder heavy attack. Seamlessly functioning as a single track for the virtual B side, they are ripe for head bangs, floor punches, and circle pits, with a guitar onslaught that would make Thurston Moore smile. 

The band has said “The rednecks don’t like us ’cause they think we’re art kids, the art kids don’t like us ’cause they think we’re rednecks,” and no truer words have been spoken. So if you find yourself a lonely punk wandering somewhere in between, you may just LOVE Idaho Green.

Double Ashley / Virgelle to Victor is out now via Bandcamp and all major streamers.