A first EP has to establish a clear point of view before it can ask for attention. Afternoon Sister’s “Reset E.P.” does so through a compact, carefully framed proposition.
The Boise-area band sets its heavy guitars beside a laid-back melodic pull. Indie rock and dream pop share its five-song frame.
Through North Corona Records, the debut introduces a group fronted by 14-year-old singer and songwriter Alice Esquibel. It also sets out a useful tension: force and ease, weight and air, five separate songs held inside one record.
At fourteen, Esquibel fronts Afternoon Sister as singer and songwriter. That fact matters because “Reset E.P.” presents a band project, not a lone-name exercise.
Alice Esquibel and Afternoon Sister wrote its five original songs together. Shared writing shapes the record’s identity alongside a central vocal presence.
The debut format gives that partnership a concise first statement. Its five titles make a first map: “Don’t Cross Yer Fingers,” “Ache,” “Night Drive,” “Reset,” and “I Guess It Is Goodbye.”
The group names Neil Young, Chromatics, Mazzy Star, and Air among its influences. Those reference points span several generations and moods.
Therefore, indie rock and dream pop form an open focus. “Reset E.P.” does not treat that range as a checklist. Its shape rests on guitars, melody, quiet atmospheric passages, and heavier turns.
For listeners seeking new indie rock from Boise, that combination offers a direct entry point without forcing the band into one lane.
The release moves between guitar-driven passages and quieter, atmospheric songs. That motion is the record’s central design. A five-song EP has little room for filler.
So each change in weight can serve a real structural purpose. Heavy guitar moments can meet more restrained melodic passages without asking either mode to dominate.
Afternoon Sister frames those poles as parts of the same whole. Each track has its own feel while contributing to one record.
The production credits add another line to that design. Ray Hedgpeth recorded, engineered, produced, mixed, and mastered Reset E.P. at M51.
Recording also took place at Cumulus. One named figure handles the full technical chain. That places a clear production centre around the project.
It suits the EP’s aim of unity across changing moods. The credits explain how heavier guitar work and quieter space can belong in the same frame.
The track list gives Reset E.P. a sequence of sharply drawn names. “Don’t Cross Yer Fingers” opens the record. “Ache” and “Night Drive” follow, before “Reset” and “I Guess It Is Goodbye” complete the set.
The titles use plainspoken phrases and images rather than a dense concept. There is an economy in that choice. A five-song EP can give each piece a separate doorway while holding the collection together.
That compactness sharpens the role of songwriting. Esquibel and Afternoon Sister share writing credit across all five songs. Esquibel also fronts the band as its singer and songwriter.
Afternoon Sister Let Guitars Dream on “Reset E.P.”
Therefore, authorship and voice guide the project’s artistic identity. No track has to carry the entire case for the band. Instead, five titles, guitar-led force, melodic calm, and one production hand make up a complete first chapter.
“Reset E.P.” gains force from the relationships among its details. Boise roots meet a wide influence list. Heavy guitars meet dream-pop atmosphere.
A teenage frontperson leads a band whose songs carry shared authorship. Meanwhile, the title Reset suggests a fresh starting point without placing a fixed reading on the songs.
That restraint leaves room for the record’s movement to do the talking.
For listeners drawn to indie rock that values melody and guitar presence, Afternoon Sister’s debut offers a concise place to begin. “Ache” offers an immediate route into the project.
The full EP arrives through North Corona Records. A debut need not announce every future possibility.
It can make its first decisions clearly. Then it leaves a question in the air.
Where might Afternoon Sister take this balance of heaviness and calm next?
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