It’s been fun getting to know the bedroom pop band formerly known as The Sports, who are now called Trying. What’s cool about discovering a new band is that you discover as much a conglomerate of musical tastes and aptitudes as you do one entity. And sometimes, a member or close friend of that band brings the members forth into a new project entirely. Enter First Responder.

Vocalist Sierra Mollenkopf could be seen performing alongside Trying in gigs past, but alongside musicians Cameron Carr (Trying frontman), Zayn Dweik, and Vikas Munjal she leads a project inspired as much by Julien Baker and Sharon Von Etten as Waxahatchee and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. So, equal parts melancholy vocals and instrumentation with attitude. Says Carr about the band:

The short story, in my words, is that Sierra began playing guitar just a couple years ago at the insistence of her grandpa. She’s almost entirely self taught, besides some help from me and other friends. She began playing shows last December and I recorded acoustic demos for her shortly after, which you can find on Bandcamp. I stayed on her about starting a band, began playing with her in the spring, and when I came back to Columbus after a summer in New York City she had joined with Vikas and Zayn on bass and drums. We try to keep her voice and songwriting at the heart of things, but the songs definitely develop when we all come together. That being said, she’s the first one to say “let’s add fuzz” or “just make noise.”

First Responder brings to the table their debut EP In My Dreams My Windows Faced West a track called “Rental Textbook” which ought to suit the myriad of emotions floating around this time of year. Stress of finals and year end business reporting, holiday excitement, and seasonal depression are all present and this short but sweet tune could fit any of those moods. Stream it below: