SKORTS
Brooklyn's SKORTS place a bookend on their current chapter with new EP MUSE AND THE MARQUEE, out now.
Today, New York City’s SKORTS have released their new EP Muse and the Marquee. Seeing this grouping of songs as a bookend on the era of their debut album, Incompletement, the 6 new offerings cover a lot of sonic ground and leave no experimental stone unturned. The band wanted to ensure they said everything they had to say before shifting gears into creating their second record.
SKORTS shares,
“‘Muse and the Marquee’ is a collection of songs we had floating around before and during the recording of our debut album 'Incompletement'.
Although 4 of the 6 songs were not recorded until after the release of the 'Incompletement', the new EP feels more like an extension of the first record than a stride towards the next.
You can expect 6 very different types of songs on the new EP. A rainbow of flavors if you will! From heavy doom to perhaps dreamy adult-contemporary???
There is probably something for everyone to like and dislike on this EP and we couldn't be happier about it.”
To celebrate the release of their EP and to close out the year with their community, SKORTS will host a release show on November 19 at Saint Vitus. The night will also feature music from Paper Lady and Truman Flyer. Earlier this year, SKORTS supported Brigitte Calls Me Baby on a sold-out U.S. tour before heading overseas for a run of European shows and their first UK tour. Most recently, they performed at Iron Blossom and O Positive Festival.
SKORTS captured the force of their live show on their debut album, Incompletement: stadium-sized rock with a DIY edge, recorded with friend and producer Teddy O’Mara. The album brought together longtime crowd favorites including “Eat Your Heart Out,” “R4DR4M” and “Bodies,” alongside the more tender “Lace” and “Anyone,” revealing a band capable of both sonic impact and emotional intimacy.
The foundation for SKORTS was laid when Alli Walls made what she calls her “big romantic gesture to music” and moved from Denver to New York City in 2021. She met guitarist Char Smith at a local guitar shop, and the two began recording demos together. Smith later connected with bassist Emma Welch outside a bar, and with drummer Max Berdik completing the lineup, the band’s creative chemistry quickly took hold.
The band developed its reputation the old-fashioned way: by playing constantly. After cutting their teeth on stages across New York City, SKORTS were named Oh My Rockness’s Hardest Working Band of 2024, won Our Wicked Lady’s Winter Madness battle-of-the-bands tournament, and recorded a live session for 90.7 WFUV at the invitation of radio host Alisa Ali.
The release of Incompletement in 2025 brought growing press attention. Selected SKORTS as one of the standout acts at Sweden’s VIVA Sounds and praised the album as a raw, incisive debut that pairs post-punk bite with something more melodic and open. International media outlets called the record “an electrifying, neon-bathed rush of gravelly guitars, roaring vocals, and raw, unfiltered energy.”
That momentum carried into 2026. Following the release of Incompletement, SKORTS completed a sold-out U.S. tour supporting Brigitte Calls Me Baby before heading overseas for a run of European shows and their first UK tour. Guitar World featured SKORTS in its survey of New York City’s current guitar scene alongside Geese, Castle Rat, Horsegirl and The Lemon Twigs.
The live response reinforced what audiences in New York already knew: SKORTS thrive onstage. Their shows are equal parts spiritual release and one hell of a party, driven by a band in search of something timeless, transcendent and impossible to fake. In September, they brought that energy to Iron Blossom in Richmond, performing alongside Jack White, LCD Soundsystem, Geese and others.
SKORTS are now moving into their next chapter while bookending their introductory era. Their new EP Muse and the Marquee is available everywhere now.
Picture by Nora Nishevc
NEW YORK CITY EP RELEASE SHOW
NOVEMBER 19 AT SAINT VITUS
