UNDERLINED PASSAGES
The Accelerationists
(Mint 400 Records)
Baltimore’s Underlined Passages have always lived in the space between hope and dislocation, crafting indie rock that feels both restless and luminous. On their latest album, The Accelerationists (out October 17 via Mint 400 Records), the trio—Michael Nestor (guitar/vocals/keys), Roger Stewart (drums), and Joseph Marcus (bass)—tighten their sound into eight tracks that balance soaring hooks, shoegaze textures, and a Gen X brand of hard-earned perspective. The result is their sharpest, most emotionally direct record yet.
Recorded with J. Robbins at The Magpie Cage and longtime collaborator Frank Marchand at Waterford Digital, the album feels like it was built for headphones and late-night drives. It’s guitar-forward and unflinching, drenched in distortion one moment and washed in chorus-soaked melancholia the next. If Landfill Indie (2024) was about survival, The Accelerationists is about momentum—both the exhilaration and exhaustion of being pushed forward in a world that doesn’t let you pause.
The opener, “Endsong,” bursts out of the gate with Stewart’s crisp, muscular drumming and a hook that sticks instantly. Nestor’s guitar skirts the edge of chaos, feedback bending into melody, as if daring the song to collapse under its own weight. It doesn’t—it soars.
“Heywood Floyd,” named after the bureaucratic dreamer from 2001: A Space Odyssey, anchors its futuristic themes in Marcus’ hypnotic bassline. The groove never lets up, while the chorus blooms into harmonies that feel like resigned optimism: humanity on the brink, singing anyway. The nod to Clarke’s character—and to the failed futurism that inspired the album’s cover art—feels less like a gimmick than a manifesto.
At nearly four minutes, “Flaxxon” is the band stretching out, letting space and feedback do as much work as melody. It’s a track that flirts with shoegaze but never loses its propulsion. “Aloof” yanks things back to earth, focused and driving, a work song for the disillusioned.
Their cover of The Smashing Pumpkins’ “La Dolly Vita” (from Pisces Iscariot) is raw and unapologetically loud, a distortion-heavy homage that pays respect to their ‘90s DNA without drowning in nostalgia. “Tyrannique” is where the band sound most contemporary, with angular guitars and chords that recall Disintegration-era Cure funneled through the anthemic sheen of The Killers. It’s urgent, catchy, and quietly devastating.
“Somelin” feels like Underlined Passages taking a swing at arena rock, all punch and no pretense. Simple, hooky, and ready to go. If there’s a song here that could break out of the indie sphere, this is it. And then the closer, “Remainder,” eases the record to its finish. Lush and drenched in reverb, it feels cinematic, like the final credits rolling on a summer movie that leaves you both uplifted and haunted.
What makes The Accelerationists so compelling is how it pairs its sonic muscle with its thematic unease. Influenced by the broken promises of futurist manifestos and the stark realism of Adam Curtis documentaries, the songs still feel personal, grounded in the weariness of midlife and the stubborn insistence on finding beauty anyway.
Underlined Passages call their sound “indie pop for mid-40s Gen X,” but that undersells the punch. On The Accelerationists, they’ve made a record that bristles with urgency while reflecting the lives of people who’ve grown up with distortion pedals in their bedrooms and bills in their mailboxes. It’s music for those who keep moving forward, even when acceleration feels like freefall.
http://www.underlineslove.com/
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