Loving this grungy, lo-fi garage track by the North Carolina’s fuzz-folk outfit Stray Owls. It immediately punches you in the gut once it starts, bringing in more psych elements as the track progresses, without losing its loudness—or its momentum.

“Billing Luna” opens with the cicada-like buzz of a discordant keyboard before moving into minimalist, Troggs-reminiscent garage rock, while “Gravel Road Castle” invites fuzzy, effected guitars into what, at its core, is a bucolic, John Fahey-influenced folk instrumental. With Billing Luna / Gravel Road Castle recently released into the wild, Stray Owls is already at work on songs for its next album.

Which is incredible.

What is also incredible, and really sad, is that this recording survived a fire that destroyed the studio it was recorded in. Count your blessings y’all. 

Both songs were saved on a hard drive that somehow survived, and their sound communicates Stray Owls’ stubborn persistence in the face of shit luck.

Video shot and edited by Matt French, Cory Griffiths, & Scott Griffiths. View it below!