Review - The View From My Window by Tarnish

I have to apologize for not updating during the month of December. I myself am a musician, and it's a busy time of year for us. I additionally run a large Christmas caroling operation in New York City, so I have very little free time, and this blog and these article are a labor of love, so they unfortunately had to take a backseat to business during my busy month. That all being said, I have no intention to stop posting, so let's listen to some good music in 2025.

Founded in 2020, Tarnish wrote and recorded their first songs over zoom during the first COVID lock down. While I was concerned this would create a sound that put composition over performance, I was pleasantly surprised to find that band members Karl Forster (vocals), Dane Carlson (bass), Jack Breger (drums), Natty P (guitar), and Kody Whiting (guitar) were able to create a sound that is simultaneously intense and sentimental; able to convey heartbreak and rage with chugging guitar riffs and poetic lyrics alike.

The View From My Window by Tarnish was the first record of 2025 to catch my attention. This EP, coming off last year's EP Rosemont, expands and improves upon the band's signature sound, that being a hardcore blend of 2010 emo and Cali hard rock. My favorite track on the EP is Promise I Won't Call, which pairs an exciting orchestration which makes me feel like I'm racing forward into a new year paired with lyics like "I remember it all: the letters we wrote and the heart that you broke" which make me think about what I'm leaving behind in 2024.

The EP has a motif of phone calls and long distance communication, which appropriately mirrors Tarnish's long-distance origins. in Things Were Okay we hear the lyrics "I cannot remember the last time you called and I hung up thinking things were okay" and in Promise I Won't Call, aside from the name itself, we are told "I promise I won't call. I just want to know what's true; I'd fall apart at the sight of you." Suggesting that the singers hasn't seen the subject of the song and that their relationship exists completely online, or on the phone. Even the EP title, The View From My Window, lends itself to the theme. The singer sits inside, viewing life through a pane of glass, separated from verisimilitude and forced to reckon with what he knows to be false.

We are delivered a theme of separation from the truth, of being on the inside looking out, or perhaps a reimagining of the age old allegory of the cave. Tarnish is writing about a world where we seem to know everything about one another, but fall short in genuine connection. In the first track, Where We Stand, we hear the lyric "making judgements like you know me, just projecting that you're lonely." To me, this is poetry, and a perfect representation of what I hear from The View From My Window. Tarnish is delivering an EP for 2025. Perhaps it is meant as a declaration of intent to change. Perhaps it is meant to inspire those of us who need it to "touch grass" more, so to speak.

Whatever you get from The View From My Window, I think any rock fan looking for an exciting young band with lots of potential and an already decently sized repertoire should check this EP out. The Tempo gives this one a 4/5. We're looking forward to more from Tarnish and I'll be watching late this year and next for a full length LP you can bet I will write a review for.