Connecticut indie art–rock troubadours seek calm in the storm of life with inaugural long-player out Friday, May 8 via L’Appel Du Vide Des Disques
The time is now for the next great American rock and roll record, and The Pretty Graves are ready to answer the call. But what’s required in this chaotic 2026 is not just a collection of anthemic bangers that dance with the sonic ghosts of past, present, and future, but one that reflects back at us through a modern lens as we try to find a calm in life’s never-ending storm.
Providing a soundtrack to this compass, all while navigating universal themes of love, loss, and overcoming trauma, the Connecticut underground indie art-rock troubadours unleash their self-titled debut album on Friday, May 8 via L’Appel Du Vide Des Disques.
The record release party, part of a flurry of activities that finds the foursome playing festivals, clubs, and DIY spaces across New England, arrives Saturday, May 16 at The Oasis Pub in New London alongside Blood Handsome and Clone.
The burst of activity is all to showcase a record that embodies The Pretty Graves’ sound, a collection of poetic still life mosaics that emerge as indie, psych, and power-pop songs, where an abundance of hooks and melodies, whimsical vocals, and fuzzed-out guitars crystallize into a rock and roll force of nature.
Across 10 distinct compositions that unfold like chapters, a propellant intensity and detached-cool lethargy weave in and out of the track list, illuminating a spectrum of sounds and emotions that slot the record alongside the classics of American bands and artists that came before, like The Velvet Underground, Pavement, Wilco, Dandy Warhols, and Elliott Smith.
The Pretty Graves, composed of Christopher M. Listorti (songwriting, vocals, guitars, synth/keys); Hollis Dunlap (lead guitar, back-up vocals); Glen Metcalfe (drums, percussion); and Mike Pace (bass, pedal steel, synth/keys), have come together to craft a striking debut effort, one that bridges the familiar assurance of rock and roll’s therapeutic nature with a propulsive tension that exists in everything we do in 2026.
“It’s an honest, unvarnished look at being an ‘underdog’ in a world that feels increasingly like a black mirror,” says Listorti. “We wanted it to sound like the room it was recorded in, with no digital safety nets, (maybe one adjustment or two) and as close to our live set, feeling the music vibrating through your body, and so that the listener can crank it at home or on their drive to work.”
That room Listorti mentions was Rare Signals in Cambridge, where mixing and mastering were also completed, as co-producers Brian Charles and Annie Hoffman were able to bring these songs to their maximum-volume fruition. Charles first caught the band live at the 2024 International Pop Overthrow, and immediately understood how to harness their onstage energy and translate it to the record.
“Brian and Annie prioritized understanding our artistic vision over narrow focus on technical execution,” Listorti admits. “Rather than removing the raw qualities of the songs, they helped us highlight their authentic character.” Pace agrees, adding with a laugh: “After the first session, I joked with the band, ‘I thought we were going in to record ‘Bleach,’ but this is ‘In Utero’!’ They were able to coax out the best of every member for every track, and it came naturally.”
Pace says this debut album “is a good representation of the band’s live sets over the past couple of years… we wanted a cohesive document of what we do, even when there’s no audience or club to facilitate it.”
The first affirmation of that sentiment surfaced last month through lead single and opening track “Bending Reeds,” a hypnotic romp with a haunting sound, magnetic lyrical pull, and unabashed streetwalkin’ swagger. It was inspired by a place not far from the band’s home base, a scenic stretch along the southeastern shore of Connecticut that used to be a landfill.
There’s poetry in the location itself, a community crossroads of natural beauty perched atop a heap of waste in an area once discarded, and carries a juxtaposition not unlike the band’s moniker, finding beauty where perhaps it’s least expected.
“I wrote the lyrics to ‘Bending Reeds’ on a walk down by the marsh at the end of my street where I live,” says Listorti. “That walk is part of my everyday life. It’s about the peace I find there, even when it seems like the world is crashing down all around me. One day, I just happened to see a finch perched on a bending reed in the marsh. It made me notice that all the reeds were bending from the past windy days. The song is a still life; the lyrics paint the picture.”
From there, the record continues to bloom. The glistening “Do It Again” recalls the height of the mid-aughts garage rock revival with a jangle-pop flair and fluorescent energy; “Feels Good” offers a sarcastic take on modern life through a slow-burn haze floating under heavy, distorted guitars; and the anthemic “Queen of Lies” soars with an arena-ready ambition and that guitarwork slashes and burns with glimmers of hope piecing through societal pandemonium.
Quickly, a storyline begins to emerge.
“While singles can capture a moment, an album serves as a more comprehensive and lasting statement,” admits Listorti. “Because life isn’t a three-minute hook. Life is a sequence of moods and transitions. An album allows you to build a world and let the listener live in it for 40 minutes, and I wanted to create something tangible that fully realizes the cohesive artistic vision of The Pretty Graves.”
The inviting “Walkin’” floats on like a fuzzed-out daydream; “Each Breath” stretches out the band’s sound with a kaleidoscopic psych-rock caress; and “Carry Me Away” contrasts jittery guitar-pop with a soothing earnestness. The nearly seven-minute “Up on a Hill” is a transportive number with ‘60s- and ‘70s-style storytelling depth and diary-like lyricisms; “Shadows” creates a sense of yearning expansiveness; and feel-good, sing-along album closer “Nothing Passes Like The Time” encapsulates all that came before it under the bright lights of an all-together-now variety show theme song.
“I find inspiration in everything and everyone,” admits Listorti. “I am the type of person who has to create to feel good or to settle down and find peace in all the malarky going on around us. When I complete a song, it’s kind of like having a child that you want to foster into reaching their greatest potential.”
Like a fully assembled Voltron unit, the foursome has quickly reached creative cruising altitude, bringing together a gang of rock-and-roll lifers for a common cause. They channel the sounds of the past to conjure something pure for the present, doing so in a musical landscape off the beaten path between New York City and Boston.
Free from the suffocating business of those cities’ scenes, The Pretty Graves summon a musical spell on their terms, making space in their dusty ol’ record collections and proving that brash rock and roll with a cocksure swagger and top-marquee ambition is far from dead.
“The best part of being in The Pretty Graves is having a creative outlet with my friends,” Listorti reveals. “Our rehearsals and concerts are usually fun, therapeutic, and really fulfilling.”
And with life the way it is in 2026, perhaps a lot of therapy is necessary.
Just after the record release party, an additional live performance remedy arrives June 17 at the Rose Arts Festival in Norwich; June 20 at Scottish Dave’s in Clinton; August 8 at Hygienic Indie Fest; and September 4 at Stars to Stem Planetarium before hitting the 2026 International Pop Overthrow Festival with appearances in Boston (The Square Root) and New York City (Parkside Lounge).
And for now and ever after, The Pretty Graves’ debut album stands firm as a statement of intent, meant to be played both at maximum volume at the party and during quiet solitary reflection. In the age of the single and the era of short attention spans, the band wants to take you along for the ride – and aim to sort through life’s messiness together. This album is the soundtrack.
“We hope anyone who listens to the album gets the same feeling we get when we hear a song that resonates with us,” concludes Listorti. “Songs they can identify with that make them feel something, nostalgic, and/or empowered, or not alone. If one of these songs catches someone at the right moment when they’re feeling like the underdog or the outlier and makes them feel understood, then the record did its job.”
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The Pretty Graves are:
Christopher M. Listorti: Songwriter, lead vocals, guitar, piano, synth
Hollis Dunlap: Lead guitar, back-up vocals
Glen Metcalfe: Drums and percussion
Mike Pace: Bass, synth, keys, pedal steel
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The Pretty Graves debut album artwork:
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‘The Pretty Graves’ production credits:
All songs written by Christopher M. Listorti and The Pretty Graves
Released on L’appel du Vide Des Disques in May 2026
Produced by The Pretty Graves, Brian Charles, and Annie Hoffman
Recorded at Rare Signals in Cambridge, MA
Mastered by Brian Charles at Rare Signals in Cambridge, MA
Design and artwork by Christopher M. Listorti
