Library Card

Expressive yet thoughtful, abrasive yet melodious, explosive yet introvert: Rotterdam’s Library Card are a band of contrasts. This is reflected in the group’s structure, the band being a tight-knit unit of four entirely different characters. The quartet started out in the summer of 2021, and it doesn’t seem too far-fetched to state that a little part of that period’s agitation has latched itself to the band’s music, which restlessly fluctuates from angular post- punk to magnificent post-rock and fast-paced garage. Even in a city that’s known for its wayward guitar music, Library Card has quickly become a standout. Spearheaded by Lot van Teylingen, whose spoken word alternates between sardonic and sincere in a matter of seconds, Library Card leave a lot of room in their music in which their members can manifest themselves equally, from Emre Karayalçin’s unorthodox, eye-catching rhythms to Kat Kalkman’s driving bass lines and Mitchell Quitz’s seemingly shape- shifting guitar performances. To call each of them a cog in a machine would do a disservice to Library Card’s humane outlook on what being in a band means, but it’s simply impossible to elevate one element of their spellbinding songs above another.