B-Side Guys

Falls Church outfit Koshari doesn’t just blur genre boundaries—they dismantle them. Their February 2025 single “I Am Life” arrives as a slowcore meditation wrapped in shoegaze textures that ultimately delivers alternative rock catharsis. Released as a preview of their forthcoming album “In the Shadows,” the track establishes a fascinating dialogue between gothic literary tradition and contemporary social commentary.

The production, helmed by renowned engineer J. Robbins at The Magpie Cage Recording Studio, creates an immersive sonic environment where each element serves the song’s emotional trajectory. Guitarist Bryan Baxter’s “spiraling layers of noise” provide textural complexity without sacrificing the emotional clarity required by the weighty subject matter. This delicate balance allows the track to occupy the liminal space between accessibility and experimentation that characterizes the most compelling slowcore.

The song’s literary framework—drawing parallels between Frankenstein’s monster and modern immigrant experience—emerges both through direct lyrical reference and musical architecture. When the narrator pleads “Why have you replaced the very light in my face/To take me where you want to be?” the delivery captures the profound alienation of being simultaneously created and rejected. The question hangs in reverb-drenched space before David Gassmann’s intricate basslines and Brian Moran’s understated percussion propel the narrative forward.

Most affecting is the chorus where the repeated declaration “I am not the monster you created/I am life” transforms from whispered realization to defiant proclamation. This progression mirrors the journey from forced otherness to reclaimed identity—a powerful statement regardless of whether listeners interpret it through literary or sociopolitical lenses.

The arrangement demonstrates remarkable restraint, allowing tension to build organically before erupting into walls of distortion that underscore the emotional crescendo. The vocals shift between vulnerability and resolve, particularly effective when delivering lines like “This cage you gave me, for my throne,” where confinement and false elevation intertwine.

“I Am Life” ultimately succeeds by refusing simple resolution. The final plea “I just want a home” hangs in suspended animation, neither granted nor definitively denied. In this ambiguity, Koshari captures something essential about both the immigrant experience and human condition—the universal yearning for belonging amidst forces that would deny it.