Migrant Kids spent a good chunk of last year working and touring with Bright Light Social Hour, and it shows in good ways. The Austin trio’s new EP, Primordial Soup, is a step removed from its 2013 self-titled debut. The interior, psychedelic elements are tempered in favor of dance-friendly grooves, and everything sounds bigger and bathed in neon. Big things have become the norm for the young band: they capped off 2015 by winning a $12,000 grant from Black Fret.
Bigger currents course through Migrant Kids, too. John Zakoor and Miguel Ojeda picked the band name as an ode to the migrant work of their respective mother and father. On “Beaten,” they sing of cheated eyes and beaten souls, and it’s not hard to draw a direct line to immigration crises across the globe. But if the words are dark, the music is celebratory–a light at the end of the tunnel.
Primordial Soup is out tomorrow via Pure Joy. Catch Migrant Kids tonight in Studio 1A at 9 p.m. and tomorrow at Cheer Up Charlie’s.
–Art Levy
