Several days later, Empath gather at a Lower Manhattan bar, happy hour margaritas in hand. The foursome conversate like a pile of puppies, talking over each other excitedly, but respectfully, always ready to counter an awkward story.

Between talk of serial killer zodiac signs and maximum security prisons, a band origin story begins to develop. Koloski and Shanahan both attended college in Syracuse, where Koloski played drums with noise rockers Perfect Pussy. In the fall of 2015, the pair moved into a massive seven bedroom house in West Philadelphia, where one of their new roommates was Elicson, who had just relocated from Columbus, Ohio. They became fast friends and soon started playing music together, “just jamming weird jazz shit in the basement for hours,” recalls Koloski. When Perfect Pussy quietly called it quits in January 2016, the trio formed Empath.

The band cut their first couple of releases, Crystal Reality and Crystal Reality Vol. II, in their basement using a field recorder later that year. Despite some rough edges—vocals recorded into an iPad, Elicson’s guitar and Koloski’s drums merging into a fuzz bomb—something precious emerged from the ramshackle, handcrafted tracks.

Empath: “Heaven” (Buy on Bandcamp)

While working on their next record, Empath added Coon on synths and developed a collective interest in Solfeggio frequencies, a sacred tone scale believed to alter moods and balance energies. They began tuning an electric Shruti Box (an Indian harmonium-like instrument that produces steady drones) to 396 Hz, the frequency meant to liberate guilt and fear. Whether or not the record physicalizes these sensations is up for debate, but Liberating Guilt and Fear’s four tracks undoubtedly invite listeners to lose themselves.

There’s no way to listen to the EP without picturing the collaborative toiling necessary to create such intricate tangles of rabid drums, jangly keys, and vicious guitars. But upon closer look, every individual piece offers the same sense of wonder, especially on “The Eye.” Its accelerated hook and Elicson’s shouted chorus—“You don’t have to spend all of that money on me baby!”—are deceptively infectious, gripping their twinkling claws far deeper into your brain than you would initially assume possible.

Serendipity comes up many times when talking with Empath, and not just because the band regularly discusses horoscopes. “It’s funny to think about how everything really fell into place,” Koloski says. For instance: The home Shanahan and Koloski often crashed at while touring with Perfect Pussy turned out to be the home they now share with Elicson. And the first night Elicson and Koloski officially met, at the Brooklyn venue Silent Barn, the place caught on fire. “That really set the tone for the friendship,” Elicson adds with a laugh. Perhaps we have to thank fate that this strange group of friends found each other through the noise of life, and then started making some noise of their own.