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She’s also avoided writing any obvious relationship songs, even though she and Naor have been living together for as long as they’ve been bandmates. “That’s true, I don’t feel like I’ve ever explored the romantic angle. If I write about any relationships, it’s probably something larger, maybe family or friends instead.” Adds Naor, “I think she’s more likely to write about her sister and her cats. When you think about it, there are different ways couples can be in bands. One would be John Doe and Exene, who were always writing songs about each other. Then there’s Sonic Youth, where you can hear everything they did and never know that Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore are a couple. I think that Maria and I are more like Kim and Thurston. Maybe we just get along so well that there’s nothing to write about.”

In recent years, 27 have done much of their touring in Europe, and the current disc was released abroad (with a slightly different tracklist) a full year before it appeared here. Thanks to their status as the one more-or-less pop band on the label that gave you Dying Fetus and Pig Destroyer, they’ve found an audience made up partly of metalheads. “You’d never know it from our songs, but we’re a metal band,” Christopher offers. “Relapse and the metal scene have been supportive of us: we’ve even had skatepunks come to the shows and wind up respectful and quiet. On our MySpace page, I see a lot of people who are otherwise into mainstream things — so how do they know us? The best explanation I can give is that most people like more than one kind of music.”

Don’t expect a local release show any time soon, since the line-up is now undergoing changes. Long-time drummer Neil Coulon left in January (after playing the Kimchee party at the Middle East in January, 27’s one gig this year). They’ve since added bassist Greg Moss and Maria’s sister Terri Christopher on drums, and they’ve just wrapped up a session with Twinemen’s Dana Colley sitting in on sax. The next change of direction seems to be well under way.