“Remain Obscure” is The Van Pelt’s fifth studio album.
Loved by those who prefer clandestine encounters in forgotten small towns to massive gatherings, a park bench with a paper newspaper to the endless scroll of a smartphone, an uncomfortable and unfinished idea to the consensus of the moment, The Van Pelt have never been a band for everyone. Even those who love them don’t listen to them every day. Their records belong to particular moments and to a small community of listeners. But within that small world, they remain absolutely indispensable. Over the years they have influenced a surprising number of bands who have often achieved far greater notoriety than they have. Yet obscurity, rather than being a limitation, has allowed the band to stay true to itself for over three decades. Legend has it that early on they turned down numerous offers from major labels, including a multi-million dollar deal. True or not, the result speaks for itself: The Van Pelt are still here.
Much of the eleven songs on Remain Obscure originated during the writing sessions for the previous album, Artisans & Merchants, but the new record pushes beyond the traditional guitar, bass, and drums format. Pianos, synthesizers, choral vocals, toy instruments, and new sonic textures take on a central role in the album’s makeup. Chris Leo also broadens his expressive range, increasingly alternating singing with the spoken word style that made him well known, while drummer Neil O’Brien emerges as an increasingly important figure in the band’s songwriting.
The result is an album that continues to elude definitions and expectations, reaffirming the identity of a band that has always preferred to follow its own path rather than seek consensus.
The Van Pelt are one of the great cult bands of American independent music.
Formed in New York in 1993 around singer, guitarist, and songwriter Chris Leo, they emerged from the same fertile underground scene that gave rise to some of the most influential post-hardcore, indie rock, and emo bands of the nineties. Unlike many of their contemporaries, though, The Van Pelt have always chosen a different path: one of artistic independence, ongoing expressive exploration, and steady resistance to the logic of trends and scene allegiances.
With landmark albums like Stealing From Our Favorite Thieves (1996) and Sultans Of Sentiment (1997), the band developed a unique musical language, blending sophisticated guitar interplay, spoken word, literary lyrics, and strong emotional intensity. Their music occupied an original space between post-hardcore urgency, indie rock invention, and the introspective sensibility that would later become associated with emo, influencing generations of musicians while remaining far from the spotlight.
After breaking up in 1997, the band’s reputation kept growing. What had started as a secret held by a handful of underground devotees gradually became a reference point for those seeking an alternative history to the official story of nineties independent rock. The 2009 and 2014 reunions, the release of lost material collected on Imaginary Third, and a series of acclaimed shows introduced their music to a new generation of listeners.
In 2023 The Van Pelt returned with Artisans & Merchants, their first album of new material in over twenty-five years. A record that didn’t look to the past with nostalgia, but expanded the band’s sonic vocabulary while keeping intact the qualities that have always made them special: curiosity, intelligence, vulnerability, and total fidelity to their own creative instinct.
In 2026 the band returns with Remain Obscure, the fifth studio album of their career. Once again, The Van Pelt choose to push beyond the boundaries of their own language, confirming the spirit of exploration that has accompanied them for over thirty years. A band whose influence has always outstripped their visibility, and who continue to be one of the best-kept and most precious secrets in American independent music.