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Cold Court’s “Backslang” Turns Sibling Friction Into Frenzied Noise-Pop
Cold Court’s new single “Backslang” pairs huge drums and guitars with sibling tension ahead of their EP \ (^_^)/.
Mini Serrano and Jojo Lavina-Maldonado, the Philadelphia siblings behind Cold Court, have never sounded like they were trying to smooth the edges off their influences. If they really did grow up on Skrillex and 100 gecs, as they say, it helps explain why their music arrives with so much nervous energy and so little interest in restraint. That lineage is not a punchline here. It is practically the point.
The duo’s new EP \ (^_^) / is due next month, and after sharing lead single “Burn,” they’ve now put out “Backslang,” a track that pushes their noise-pop into even more unruly territory. The song lurches forward on huge drums and guitars, while synth sounds keep cutting in from unexpected angles. It’s the sort of track that feels overloaded in a useful way, with enough jagged detail to keep shifting under your feet. The comparison that comes to mind is MSPAINT, which feels apt in the sense that both acts understand how to make chaos feel intentional.
Mini Serrano’s account of the song suggests that tension is built into the process, not just the finished product. “Backslang” began as what he calls an indirect conversation between himself and Jojo, after the two argued over who should sing it. Serrano thought Jojo should take the lead, since he would usually sing it live, until Jojo abruptly told him to “feel it out” instead. Serrano answered by writing lyrics that mocked him, just to see whether he would catch on. He didn’t. The anecdote matters because it points to how Cold Court seem to operate: not as a polished unit sanding off disagreement, but as two people constantly borrowing from each other, testing each other, and dragging those dynamics straight into the songs.
“Backslang” is this indirect conversation between me and Jojo. We had been arguing about which of us should sing it. I felt he should, since he would whenever we played the song live, but seemingly out of nowhere he asked me to “feel it out” instead. I wrote the lyrics kinda mocking him as part of this argument to see if he’d notice. He didn’t. I love this song because it captures the way we work together really accurately — we’re super emo and take a lot from each other and put each other through a lot.
\ (^_^) / is self-released and out 6/19.
