The seeds for Greenland were planted at William and Mary, where guitarist Jamie and bassist Tony were both part of a band called Captain Kickass. They only played two shows and mostly jammed drunk, but it sparked a collaboration between the two members. Reconnecting a year after college, they began performing in the D.C. area and garnering a lot of praise from critics, musicians, and audiences.

Despite persistent sound problems from radio tower interference, their set at Fort Reno was pretty good. Greenland is best distinguished by their dual vocals and affected delivery. Conscious of this strength, they pressed at their advantage, especially when the equipment became less reliable: from the fatalism of “Forward Frame to Frame” and Cure-like effusions and nerviness, to spoken word and deadpan a Capella hardcore.

Their musical compositions worked well. The second song’s ornate, minimalist construction reverberated like renaissance court music while the following tunes dove straight into familiar post-punk. It’s clear they are still adjusting to the new drummer, who played a bit too hard on the last couple songs, rendering them overly intense and unintelligible.

There were some points where the road not taken would have made more sense, like greater power behind some of the disaffected vocals or more aggressive blitz down the end-of-song crescendos. Like Interpol, Greenland deals in distant imagery and accented vocals that are only emotive on the underbelly. Consequently, the “Interpol sound” becomes a kind of accomplished older sibling to Greenland, a sign of their potential and source of constant comparison.