Back in April, I tweeted, “the two best new emo bands of 2024 are bonus and red sun.” I am not one to toot my own horn [citation needed], but I think I called it. The two young emo bands are from far-flung locales — south Florida and Oklahoma City, respectively — but they have quickly become central figures of emo in 2024. They’ve united for a split titled Unnecessary Riffness, out next month on Wax Bodega.
Red Sun have been on a tear since their first song, “Officer Jenny,” dropped last New Year’s Eve as part of the Lost Friends/Found Family split with Me Too, Thanks, and the Others Like Us, and they’ve spent 2024 getting better with each release. I caught their Fauxchella performance back in June and the room was, to a person, going absolutely insane. It felt like the first time I saw Modern Baseball in 2013: kids climbing all over each other — a band and an audience both realizing in real time that chaos was about to ensue. Their first song from the new split, “Boomer,” is a catchy emo/pop-punk tune in the Mom Jeans vein. It has a similar chatty charm to Modern Baseball’s shambling storytelling, but the riffs are way better.
Bonus’ February EP was a dog was a surprise slam dunk. The band emerged from south Florida’s expansive and exploding DIY music scene that seems to turn out a new hardcore, indie rock, or emo/screamo act every month. The EP’s leadoff track, “Lose,” has been frontrunner for emo song of the year for me, and today they release another worthy contender with “LASO.” The song jumps between rousing refrains (“Well you got up and said/ Let’s do that again/ When was the last time that I had felt a win”) and references to Halo (“Well I’ll sit tight behind this rock/ If you need a place to respawn off”) and the result in somehow very affecting.
Each band has one more song coming when the split officially releases, and they’ve been cooking up some truly bonkers merch (art design by Franklin Reyes). Stream both songs below.
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Unnecessary Riffness is out 12/6 via Wax Bodega.
