You can’t talk about Neptune’s Core without talking about the two sets of sisters that comprise the band, or their relative youth (they’re all still teenagers). But really what you should be talking about is their songs. Their songs belie their age, with an implicit world-weariness that is so authentic you would swear these kids have been around the block a few times. At the same time, the songs have a kind of ineffable delicacy, and when each of them builds, as they almost always do, into a powerful climax, none of the parts get lost or seem inessential.
Their new EP, “Called Upon,” is a natural evolution from their previous full-length, “Evolving,” and while they meet and exceed expectations, they are also hoping to defy those expectations. I meet with Hannah Richter (bass) and Jackie Cywinski (guitar/vocals) at their preferred meeting location, in a North Center neighborhood park. They point out the location where they shot the cover to one of their earlier albums and where Hannah’s sister, Sofie (vocals and guitar) came up with the lyrics to the EP’s first single, “Inside,” following a tornado warning in the area. On the day of our meeting, Sofie’s in Spain studying marine biology and the other sister in Neptune’s Core, Kaitlin Cywinski (drums) is in Costa Rica, working on environmental sustainability. This might be just as well, given that it’s difficult enough to distinguish Hannah and Jackie—they seem to speak with such united voices—and I can imagine that adding both of their sisters into the mix would just multiply the difficulties.
Yet Hannah and Jackie point to the inclusion of each other’s sisters as true strengths of the quartet. Jackie says that “Having the ‘two sets of sisters dynamic’ really helps, honestly. We know exactly what each other is thinking and feeling, we know each other’s capabilities, strengths and weaknesses, musically and as people, we know each other and how much to push each other. Having that connection—it’s almost telepathic in a way,” she continues, “when all four of us are singing together especially. It’s rare that happens, but it’s beautiful when it does.”
Neptune’s Core “Called Upon” EP
They do gel as a single unit on “Called Upon,” and Hannah says that in the years the group has been playing together, “It’s like all four of us are sisters rather than two sets, we’re all best friends, and even though Kaitlin and I have the largest age difference, we’re still best friends, which is kind of crazy.”
You can’t talk about Neptune’s Core without talking about their youth, but again, Jackie and Hannah choose to make this into a positive, as a way of inspiring other women to make music too. “We try to use it to our advantage,” Jackie says, “and empower younger women to play music.” Conversely, Hannah adds, ‘If someone does discriminate against us for our age, if they’re going to focus on that in a negative light, then maybe that’s not who we’re trying to reach.” It’s not as though they just picked up music last semester; some of them have been playing music since the age of three, and all of them have been playing their current instruments since nine or ten.
Their musical growth since their 2020 debut, “Can’t Have It All,” is indeed impressive. Sofie Richter’s soulful alto has only grown in maturity and depth (think of Mazzy Star or Cowboy Junkies), and her bandmates have ratcheted up the experience, experimentalism, and dexterity. “Called Upon” begins with the meditative “Bunga” (so named just because too many songs are already called “Help”) and builds into a crashing climax. It’s followed by the stellar first single “Inside,” penned by Sofie after that storm swept through. “Broken, why am I so broken?,” it begins, then roars into a guitar-driven frenzy as she delivers the words, “Tell me, when does it get better?”
The inclusion of the instrumental “Mermaid Song” is one exhibit in the band’s argument that it has come to embrace experimentalism as opposed to straightforward instrumentation. Jackie explains that this was born from a guitar riff that she had in her head for a few years, and Sofie made it more of a wailing siren song by adding a part with an EBow, an electronic bow that is used on the guitar as opposed to picking. The instrumental is short, just over two minutes, but as Hannah says, it shows the range of the group: “We can write songs with really touching and heartwarming lyrics, and we can write stuff that’s instrumental and triggers a different part of your brain when you listen to it… It really blended with the rest of the EP; it matches the vibe but also brings something else to the table.”
“Unloved” is another dark foray that builds into a soaring yet despondent climax of pain and anguish, “Why” showcases the group’s harmonies, and “A Widow’s Tune” concludes the six-song EP.
“A Widow’s Tune” was inspired by Sofie’s reading of “The Great Gatsby” and Jackie says that’s “why there’s all these crazy intricate words in it, how that dialogue was throughout the book… All of our parts just perfectly encompass the rest of it, they’re not too flashy… it’s all subtle, bringing out the vocals and the harmonies and it tied up the rest of the EP in terms of how our instrumentation has grown.” Hannah says that with this song, and representative of the EP as a whole, “We were trying to show our inner selves compared to stuff that we released in the past, where it’s just like we were younger, so we didn’t have so many experiences to go off of.”
The “Called Upon” EP will be released August 25 via Side Hustle and Neptune’s Core will celebrate its release on August 26 with Motel Breakfast and Ok Cool at Metro.The EP is available here.
Craig Bechtel is a freelance writer and has also been a Senior Staff Writer for Pop’stache. He is also a DJ, volunteer and Assistant Music Director for CHIRP Radio, 107.1 FM, and contributes occasionally to the CHIRP blog. As DJ Craig Reptile, you can hear him play music on the FM dial or at www.chirpradio.org most Sunday nights from 6pm to 9pm. He previously worked in radio at KVOE AM and Fox 105 in Emporia, Kansas, and served as a DJ, music director and general manager for WVKC at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, where he also won the Davenport Prize for Poetry and earned a B.A. in English writing. Craig has been working in various capacities within the hotel and meetings industry for over twenty years, and presently works at a company that uses proprietary systems to develop proven data strategies that increase revenue, room nights and meeting attendance. In his spare time, he also fancies himself an armchair herpetologist, and thus in addition to a wife, son and cat, he has a day gecko and a veiled chameleon in his collection.
