Portland-via-Chicago noise rockers Koalra return with a new single, “In a Weird Way,” a track that encapsulates their genre-bending evolution while remaining rooted in the guitar-driven chaos fans have come to love. Known for fusing the grainy textures of 90s alternative rock with shoegaze haze and post-punk urgency, Koalra crafts music that feels like it’s perpetually on the edge of unravelling—yet somehow always holds together in the most thrilling ways. “In a Weird Way” is no exception, and might even be one of their most intoxicating pieces yet.
The track opens with a thick wash of distortion, setting a mood that feels immediately unsteady, like entering a dream midway through. Then come the drums, loose but deliberate, kicking into a groove that feels more felt than counted. Frontman James DeMain’s vocals emerge from the haze like a barely remembered memory, blurred around the edges but emotionally sharp. His delivery, half-lost in reverb, carries a casual desperation that feels so very Koalra: part disillusionment, part resigned euphoria. It’s a strange emotional cocktail, but as the title suggests, it works — in a weird way.
Lyrically, the song offers fragments of narrative that feel deeply personal and abstract, a technique Koalra has long mastered. There’s a sense of longing here, also detachment, like someone trying to recount a past love or loss but tripping over the memory. You’re never told exactly what’s wrong or what happened, but the ache is unmistakable. As the guitars build into a wall of shimmering fuzz in the chorus, there’s a sense of surrender that’s oddly comforting, as though the band is urging you to lean into the confusion instead of fighting it.
What makes “In a Weird Way” so compelling is how effectively it captures the band’s DNA in a single track. From their early fuzz-heavy debut in 2019 to the shimmering post-punk of Into the Everything, Koalra has never been content to stay still. Each release has revealed a band digging deeper into itself, refining its sound while embracing a lo-fi freedom that polished acts can’t replicate. This track feels like the midpoint between their scrappy origins and the cinematic sprawl of Disasterclass, offering a sound that’s familiar and newly unhinged.
With “In a Weird Way,” Koalra once again proves they are masters of emotional dissonance. They take the beautiful, bleak, the chaotic and the cathartic, and twist them into something utterly their own. It’s the sound of trying to make sense of things in an era where sense itself is a luxury — and somehow, they make that feel like a kind of triumph. Whether you’re a longtime follower or a curious newcomer, this track is a worthy introduction to a band that thrives in the strange spaces between genres and emotions.
