South Louisiana’s Baby in the 90s aren’t easy to categorize and they seem to like it that way.

With mathy timing shifts, angelic vocals and a driving rhythm section, the four-piece captures a sound that nods to early Donovan Wolfington (who they’ve shared billing with in a festival lineup), Phony (Neil Berthier) and bands like Modest Mouse. Their new EP, Stuck, out July 25, pushes their heaviest material to date into new emotional terrain, thanks in part to Grammy-nominated engineer Matthew Goldman (Copeland, Underoath, As Cities Burn), who recorded and mixed the project.

Below, the band’s Mookie Darden (songwriter, vocalist and rhythm guitarist) talks about their origin story, early influences and what it was like working with one of their dream producers.

Who or what inspired you to start playing guitar? Was it your first instrument?

Around fifth grade (2005), MTV exposed me to the pop-punk and emo world. Bands like Taking Back Sunday, My Chemical Romance and Saosin were the catalyst to me picking up the guitar. The same is definitely true for our drummer (Reed Dunaway) and bass player (Jeremiah Wilson). We all had an early love for Taking Back Sunday.

Was there a particular show or moment in your life when you decided that you wanted to form this band?

Reed, Jeremiah and I have been playing music together for the better part of 15 years under a couple of different project names. Baby in the 90s started when I moved to Nashville to study audio. It was originally just me and my college roommate/trumpet player, Peter Luther, trying out new songs in our dorm hall stairwell.

Do you ever feel pressure to define your sound or adhere to genre labels?

I wouldn’t say I feel pressure to define our sound. I would, however, say I have trouble defining our sound. Indie rock is such a big blanket… I think we have a lot of post-hardcore influence mixed with a lot of passion for classical, choral and theatrical music. We’re pretty much all fans of musicals, cinematic scores and experimental tunes.

How did working with Matthew Goldman shape the sound of Stuck? What did he bring out in the band? How did you decide to work with him?

Matt Goldman is an incredible engineer, but what I admire most about working with him is his ear for production and his genuine love for creating music with others. I could talk about this for way too long, but I’ll keep it as short as possible. He’s the kind of producer that doesn’t let you slip away with a mediocre or “solid” take. He’ll ask you to do another take until he believes that you really did your best. On our last record he asked me to rewrite an entire section of a song, because he thought I could do better. What I ended up writing is one of my favorite parts on the album. He cares about each project and it shows.

He has always been one of my favorite engineers. I originally found out about him through his work with As Cities Burn, which is really the band that got me started on writing my own music. I would love to continue to work with Matt in the future.

Did recording force you to reinterpret any of your songs or the visions you originally had for them?

This EP as a whole was written in a short period of time with a pretty specific vision in mind. The focus for these songs was always to get them into the studio and lay down a rock album that encompassed our “heaviest” songs to date. (Not heavy in the deep sense…heavy in the loud/yelling sense). We will always end up with new ideas and ways of playing them while working with someone like Matt, but I think the original intentions remained the same.

Where do you see the future of live music going, especially for bands at your level? Do you foresee more DIY shows, digital streams or something else entirely?

This is a tough one to answer. I work at a music venue myself and have been independently booking shows for other bands and my own for a long time. I think every scene at the local level has ebbs and flows. There are a ton of factors to getting people out to events, and they’re sometimes out of your control. Of course the main route for bands to try and grow these days is through social media. For better or for worse. It is what it is, and we’re trying to lean in to making more video content like other artists are. I would love to see a resurgence of house shows! There is truly nothing like a solid house show…

You went to Nashville to attend school. What motivated you to study there?

I just knew I wanted to be surrounded by music and likeminded people in that sense. Nashville was a great hub for house shows and had a really big DIY heartbeat at the time.

After you release the EP, what’s next?

We have most of our next full length album written and ready to record! We’ll be promoting Stuck and creating new content around this EP in the time that we’re gearing up to record the new album. We’ll also be playing a lot locally and regionally, so lookout for some shows!

Baby in the 90s will hold a release show on July 25 at Chelsea’s Live in Baton Rouge. More tickets and information are available here. 

Stream “Cinnamental” below.