142. Single Review of The String by Jeremy Abrams featuring Catapult City
Originally Published on June 12th, 2025
About the Artist
In 2002, I was obsessed with Live, I was just beginning to understand how important Radiohead was to me, and I was on a mission to tell as many people as I could about that band, Coldplay, from England, with the song Yellow, and how their second album would cement their legacy when it came out later that year. I was obsessed with alternative rock. My style was shifting at this point, I just wasn’t aware of it or not willing to accept it.
I was a little bit of a “music snob” too. I wanted to control what was on my stereo and there was this small part of my brain that would get annoyed when a friend would sit in my car and say “have you heard this band?” I selfishly liked to be the person to say that and introduce some incredible and illuminating music into another person’s life. On the other hand, I was a people pleaser and I always allowed it and, on occasion, somebody would play a musician that I got into.
That was not the case with So Impossible by Dashboard Confessional. Initially. I had one friend who admittedly had a great taste in music. But there were two areas where we didn’t see eye to eye in 2002. She didn’t get Radiohead and I didn’t get Dashboard.
“Have you heard of emo?” she would say. “It’s basically punk rock on an acoustic guitar. This guy is the biggest name. He’s called Dashboard Confessional but it’s just one guy and his guitar.” I don’t know if it was stubbornness in my snobbery that wouldn’t let the music in or if it was the fact that there were subtle familiarities to blink-182 (who I hated), but I stuck my nose up to him.
More and more friends started talking about him. So, I decided I would really give him a try. I bought So Impossible. I also bought Summers Kiss. I had to force myself to listen to these EPs. It may have been to 10th listen. It may have been the 100th. After several listens, it boiled down to one moment. I had heard the songs on these two EP’s dozens of times and it never resonated. But one summer morning, I was driving by myself, and I didn’t just hear Remember to Breathe, I listened. In that moment, I was instantly changed. It was that rare “technicolor moment” we have in our lives where change just blows us away in a moment. It could be good change, it could be bad change. It’s significant. No matter, we would never be the same. I would never be the same.
That’s my really long story about how Jeremy Abrams reminds me a lot of those old Dashboard EPs (after my epiphany). I don’t know what genre his considers himself to be, but I hear the early emo influence. Not emo from the 2010’s that became a more post-gothic punk pop. It’s original, untainted beginnings. The Dashboard Confessional era and the first major full emo band, Jimmy Eat World.
Abrams, out of New Jersey, debuted in 2023. In December of that year, he released the four song EP, Everything I Wanted. The first recording we would ever hear of Abrams would be the track The Weight, which almost feels like a spiritual or Christian Alternative song. I think it’s significant because it is a little more “real world.” If Abrams intent is to reach an evangelical crowd, I love how he brings “human flaw” into the equation. He talks about “putting up with shit,” and he talks about “pouring a glass,” in Without You. It’s these personal moments of human vulnerability that I think could truly resonate with the more skeptical audiences that might be looking for the “bullshit” in more traditional Christian alternative music.
In 2024, Abrams would have a few releases. Leading off, in May, is the single Who am I?, which has significant dynamic shifts from verse to chorus. Later in May, he released Meant to Be, which is stylistically identical to his other releases but has a little bit more of a downtempo to his other songs.
In August, Abrams released the single Blindside, which featured Who am I? on the B-Side. Blindside, starts on acoustic, but introduces a full and powerful rock performance. This song has layers of Dashboard influence. The following month, he would release an acoustic version of Blindside that really brings me back to that early emo sound.
In October, Abrams would release his second EP, which would feature the singles that were least earlier in 2024, along with the song Sleeptalking, a song that starts to flow more towards the pop-punk genre. Featuring full and layered guitars, dynamic percussion, Sleeptalking is definitely a song anybody can tap their foot to.
In February of 2025, Abrams released the single, weather//whether, his first release of 2025.
About the Song
The String is the second release by New Jersey-based recording artist, Jeremy Abrams, in 2025. It features support from the band Catapult City from Virginia. The String released on May 30th, 2025. It was written, recorded, and produced independently by Jeremy Abrams in his home studio, Banditfox Studios.
About the Music
The String is an alt rock power ballad that marvels in its transition from light, organic verses to the full force of rock and roll, distorted, and percussive choruses.
Abrams explained to me that The String was written a few years ago but he temporarily shelved it because he “knew it needed to be a duet.” Fast forward to the collaboration of Catapult City through the Threads and CAN! communities.
The String derives from Abrams’ interpretations of one of his favorite movies, Your Name. “It explores the main theme of fate and destiny from the two main characters.”
As the acoustic guitar opens, it has a melancholic atmosphere. Abrams’s vocals come in shortly after, along with light percussion. The percussion executes a solid fill that transitions to the full band in the chorus. Layered electric guitars, bright production, and the music fills the entire space.
Leading into the second verse, Catapult City takes over the leading vocals and Abrams is absolutely right; the contrasting female lead vocals really creates a pleasant dynamic shift in the song. As the second chorus and bridge play out, the two vocalists couldn’t make a better pair with their tonal performance. The harmonizations flow synchronized and they venture off on their own melodic lines as well. I can’t stress enough how the tones of the two vocalists are a flawless musical match.
Final Thoughts
Jeremy Abrams is a quality musician. He is talented at every level of the production process; the songwriting, the instrumental and vocal performance, the recording engineering, mixing, editing, and the mastering. His music is catchy, it fits into most genres and sub-genres of popular rock music. He is what I would most certainly classify as “radio ready.”
I’m also interested in the work of Catapult City, who have released just six singles since debuting in February 2024 (and one live sessions recording). They also fit into a wide range of genres, even bending into the indie and alternative folk relms I love to explore. Perhaps, I will catch them around the time they release something new and I can give a more detailed analysis to what I hear.
Together, these two artists have created something spectacular in The String. As good as Jeremy Abrams is on his own, he has found an artist that challenges his range as a performer and it has brought out his best work. It would be interesting to see more collaborations from him in the future.
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