Album Review | 'XYZ' 

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How does live punk energy translate to studio recordings? The query dates back at least 50 years to the genre’s beginnings. A recent test case is “XYZ,” the self-titled debut EP from a local five-piece with members spanning different generations.

XYZ won Girls Rock! Rochester’s 2023 Rock Roulette fundraising talent show, then recorded the EP with Stephen Roessner at his Calibrated Sound studio. Roessner renders the group’s sound in crisp detail without sanding away its green charm.

EP standout “Everything is Awful” boasts buzzsaw guitars that add a heft missing from the song’s live performances. Gentle studio polish allows the sparse, gentle “Trying Times” to take flight as a proper ballad.

Yet Sab, Tessa, Julia, Sherry and Annie — who make up XYZ — thrive in their element of guitar-forward, drum-pounding punk rock that recalls both Patti Smith and riot grrrl dynamics.

Hell no, we won’t go! blares the refrain of the final song, “We Go High,” which also features the group’s name shouted in triumphant confidence.


The EP’s release presents a victory. The band’s five members were blindly paired up during a Girls Rock! Rochester camp. “XYZ” showcases the fruits of their collaboration, honed during workshops on stage performance and DIY approaches to art.

Its six songs demonstrate an array of perspectives. The rhythmic, piano-led “Generation Gap” addresses the differences faced by digital natives and their predecessors (and nods toward the wide age range of the band’s members). Ultimately, vocalist Sherry declares, Inside we are all the same.


“Just a Number,” meanwhile, examines the fuzzy lines at play in May-December romances: Cradle robbin’ kinda sucks.

Throughout the EP, XYZ commits to a core of relentless percussion, solid bass lines and loads of crunching guitar. Crucially, the members have committed to a punk ethos.

“XYZ” sounds scrappy enough to thrive — and to inspire listeners to pick up instruments of their own.

Patrick Hosken is an arts writer for CITY. He can be reached at [email protected].