EP Review: my point of you – ‘This is my first heist’
Posted: by The Alt Editing Staff
In May of last year, the Texas emo band my point of you released their first song. “Water, Clawing (I wake up)” immediately called to mind the sorts of ’90s emo bands never cited as influences these days, the sorts of bands whose best hope to be remembered or discovered to get reissued on a Numero Group boxset. I could hear elements of Endive, Strictly Ballroom, The Lazarus Plot in their sound, sometimes surprisingly heavy and a little bit twee. “Water, Clawing” was one of the most intriguing debut singles I’d heard from an emo band in a very, very long time; I had high hopes for whatever would come next.
This May it was announced that my point of you had signed with Rite Field Records, and earlier this month they announced their debut EP. It’s called This is my first heist, and it’s got four songs; “Water, Clawing” isn’t one of them, but it serves as a clear blueprint for where the band takes things on here. These four songs wrap taut, clean arpeggiated riffs around Frida Valenzuela’s airy, innocent vocals; occasionally, bassist Gannon Schaffer will let loose a tortured scream. There’s a bit of math rock influence here–it’s near impossible in 2025 to find an emo band that wasn’t at least slightly inspired by a Kinsella project–but it never takes center stage; similarly, while Schaffer shrieks his way through the bridges of just about every song my point of you’s released until now–and while they’ve shared the stage with skramz projects like Record Setter, your arms are my cocoon, and A Brief Memoir–they’re decidedly not a screamo band.
The heaviest moment on This is my first heist comes at the end of opener “eviscerate,” as a wiry guitar line cuts in and breaks through the twinkly reverie of the song’s previous two and a half minutes; Schaffer takes center stage, falling over himself to choke out the song’s final lyric (“but you don’t“) over and over. Besides then, though, This is my first heist carries far too much melody, sounds much too warm and inviting to cross that porous genre boundary. Much of this is due to the sweetness of Valenzuela’s voice. At times, like when she’s singing the knotty vocal melody in the first verse of “where are the birds,” she can be a dead ringer for Hannah Vogan of tweemo legends Everyone Asked About You (never a bad reference point for an up-and-coming emo band). She’s a particularly captivating vocalist, especially in a genre that isn’t typically known for tuneful singing; she never strains or loses control, but she’s still able to convey the aching, tender emotion these songs call for. When Valenzuela and Schaffer’s voices overlap, screams over croons, throughout “redeemer,” they blend together beautifully, honey and vinegar.
For all the talk of waves of emo, there seems to be yet another new one cropping up. I’ve written before about some of those bands whose sounds explicitly call back to the rougher-edged emo of Elliott and Texas Is the Reason as a counterpoint to the stranger, more outré styles of the fifth-wavers. Now, it seems, a new cohort has arisen, typified by bands like stella and First Day Back, getting dirtier and more aggressive and pulling from even more obscure touchpoints. With This is my first heist, my point of you might have proven themselves the best of this crop. They made quite an impression with “Water, Clawing,” but they’ve come fully into their own on This is my first heist.
Disappointing / Average/ Good / Great / Phenomenal
This is my first heist is out 6/19 on Rite Field Records.
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Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
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