When I got to Austin for SXSW last month, I still had a few hours to spare before I could check into my Airbnb. It was lunchtime, and the unofficial showcases were roaring to life in venues across the city, so I lugged my suitcase and backpack into a bar to see my first band of the week. I considered the possibility that dragging a suitcase around downtown Austin and into a hole in the wall might be awkward or annoying, but to see Perennial, it was worth it.

The New England trio plays explosive indie rock that flashes me back a couple decades to my college radio days, when so many hot young bands were playing jagged, high-energy, shout-along anthems you could dance to. It’s a little bit dance-punk, a little bit post-hardcore, and it would have worked wonders on a package tour with Hot Hot Heat and Pretty Girls Make Graves. But Perennial’s inspirations go way further back.

They bill their new album Art History as “a 22-minute collage of mod rhythm & noise, 90s post-hardcore, Stax soul, and British Invasion garage rock.” Between that serrated guitar riff and those bursts of organ, I can hear some of those extra-retro touchstones in lead single “Action Painting,” but mostly it just jolts me into the present. The album kicks off with the title track, “Art History,” which appeared on the recent Lemon On Plastic EP.

Watch the “Action Painting” video below, where you can find the new album’s tracklist and Perennial’s tour dates.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Art History”
02 “Tambourine On Snare”
03 “Action Painting”
04 “Jet Set Mono”
05 “A Is For Abstract”
06 “Up-tight”
07 “How The Ivy Crawls”
08 “Tiger Technique”
09 “Mouthful Of Bees”
10 “B Is For Brutalism”
11 “The Mystery Tone”
12 “Perennial Meets The Wolfman”

TOUR DATES:
04/19 – Cambridge, MA @ Lizard Lounge with The Collect Pond, Battlemode
04/20 – Amherst, MA @ Marsh House with Cinema Stare, Minus Points, Radical Joy
04/24 – Holyoke, MA @ Toritown with Friendly Spectres, Bobbie, Sleep Destroyer
05/03 – Brooklyn, NY @ The Unruly Collective with Late Slip, Audrey Heartburn
05/04 – Wilmington, DE @ Arden Concert Gild, with Death By Indie, Mavis the Dog
05/19 – Queens, NY @ Bar Freda with Dollar Signs & Good Looking Friends
06/07 – Vernon, CT @ Arts Center East with Minus Points, DJ Steady Habits (Art History release show)
06/08 – Brooklyn, NY @ Purgatory with Labrador, better living. (Art History release show)
06/16 – San Francisco, CA @ The Knockout with FeeFawFum, Vivian Panache, Curling
06/17 – Chico, CA @ Naked Lounge with Viking Skate Country and TBA
06/18 – Portland, OR @ Zero Wave with Collate, Chatterbox
06/19 – Olympia, WA @ Second Home Gigs Show with TBA
06/20 – Seattle, WA @ The Vera Project with Black Nite Crash, The Dust Mice

Art History is out 4/7 on Ernest Jenning Record Co. Pre-order it here.