Little Low, L-R: Mike Assatly, Eric Pocock, Christine Atturio, and Kris Moya (SOURCE: Facebook)

Little Low hails from The Bay Area, formed by guitarist and vocalist Christine Atturio (Save Ends,) drummer Mike Assatly (Spirits, BearTrap,) guitarist Eric Pocock ( Discourage,) and bassist/vocalist Kris Moya (Jabber, Long Knives.) While we would attest Little Low sound something like a musical menagerie falling somewhere in-between Paramore, Weezer, and Cults, yes, their members have collectively played with Punk/Hardcore greats BearTrap, Discourage, and Long Knives. Originally started as a solo project in Boston by Atturio, Little Low released a self-titled EP of acoustic songs in 2020. After a move across the country in 2021 and missing the comradery of a full band, Atturio & Assatly asked Pocock & Moya to join and Little Low was born anew.

With each member bringing their unique set of musical chops to the table, Little Low melds together driving Hardcore drums, sparkly Emo guitars, melodic bass lines, and infectious hooks and harmonies from Atturio & Moya. The band's debut EP, Reasons to Grow, recorded at The Atomic Garden Recording Studio with Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Gouge Away, Touché Amoré,) is out now on Wiretap Records. We were recently lucky enough to secure Christine, Mike, Eric & Kris for a full-band interview for NO ECHO on the making of Reasons to Grow. Additionally, we got Christine & Mike to provide us with a track-by-track breakdown of each track included within their Reasons to Grow EP for All-around Breakdown. Check it out below the break!


Mike Assatly: This was the obvious record opener to me. It has all the elements of our sound in a shorter song. And the overlaid "Taking Back Sunday"-style vocals in the center really cut through and showcase how well Christine & Kris [Moya] can play off of each other!

Christine Atturio: I had a demo of the intro and outro of this song kicking around for years, but never really knew what to do with it. When the band started, I put a bunch of demos in a folder for everyone to listen to and Eric [Pocock] really liked this one and had ideas of how to fill it out. He added the "Weezer heavy" chuggy part and gave the whole thing some structure to make what I think is a really cool and simple song.


Atturio: This is one of the first demos I made during The Pandemic Quarantine. I missed band practice, so [I] started messing around with "the drummers" in GarageBand and wrote this song as just an experiment in overlaying guitar octaves. Before it got its real name, we were calling it "Ferocious Octaves" in band practice 'cuz I probably had at least five guitar tracks going. The lyrics are about finding a partner who makes you feel secure and free all at once and I don’t think there's anything better than that!

Assatly: This is a mid-tempo banger about someone making you feel brave enough to do things you never thought you could and how much that can impact your life!


Atturio: This song is a doozy! I had this kicking around for a few years and would try to work on it, but the main reason I hadn't was because the lyrics I started singing were about the loss of my sister in 2005. I was putting off going through the emotional process of getting them out of my head, even though I knew it had the potential to be constructive; so, knowing that the band really liked the demo forced me to sit down and push through some pretty hard emotions to get the lyrics just right.

I took some inspiration from The Juliana Hatfield [Three] song "My Sister" because there's a part where she simply says, "I miss my sister" and I wanted to be that blunt about how much it S*CKS, but, also, honoring what a great person she was and being grateful for that. I've written songs about her before in a more abstract way and this song about accepting her loss and remembering the joyful parts of life is another step in the healing process.

Assatly: This is my favorite song on the EP! Everything from the subject matter to it being the fastest (currently recorded) song we have, and how powerful the outro is. Everyone has lost a loved one, so it’s very relatable.


Atturio: This song is my personal favorite because I worked a mention of my favorite beer (Guinness!) into the lyrics. It's about the end of a relationship that seems to just go in circles, repeating the same mistakes and having the same issues over and over again. I think the song is hopeful and sad at the same time. At some point one person needs to be the one to move on so that the other person can do the same.

Assatly: I like the anthemic chorus of this one the most and the outro building down the same way the intro builds up!


Atturio: This was our first single, which made a lot of sense 'cuz it's the bridge between my solo acoustic stuff and what became [the] Little Low full-band [version]. When I started playing this out at solo shows, I kept wanting to hear more power behind the song to accentuate the lyrics and emotions I was going through.

Especially, where the main section of the song (which is about forming realizations) switches to the outro of the song, where it becomes determined and resolute, proud of the decision to move forward. I had a GarageBand demo of the song, which I shared with Kris and when they sent back their ideas for additional vocals, the song felt so much more complete and emotional; I knew we were really heading in the right direction with rounding out our sound.

Assatly: When this song was released, someone reached out to our bassist, Kris, about how much they liked it and that the drummer [me] had "real Travis Barker vibes" and [I don't know] if they've seen me out in public in a Famous Stars & Straps shirt or not, but it was great to hear that! I feel like as the single, but, also, the closer of the EP, it was perfect for both [roles]: a good intro to what the full-band will be, but, also, the end of the song really picks up and sounds powerful and resolute, matching the flow of the lyrics!