STELLA AND THE VERY MESSED – “BIG FAMILIAR”
A SPILL EXCLUSIVE VIDEO PREMIERE
Quirky, electric, and emotionally raw, Stella And The Very Messed are back with their sophomore full-length, Big Familiar, due out September 19, 2025 on Double Helix Records. The project is helmed by Stella Maxwell and David Hawkins, formerly of Austin alt-rock cult favorites Cruiserweight (Doghouse/Warner Music Group), and joined by an all-star lineup from the Austin indie scene: Chris Nine (Schatzi, Moving Panoramas), Mohadev (Stop Motion Orchestra), and Sam Rich (Black Books, Broken Gold).
Today, the band drops the album’s fiery title track, “Big Familiar” — a hook-laden grrrl-rock banger wrapped in thrashing guitars and shimmering synths. It’s a breakup song, not with a lover, but with the past. “We’re strangers for another month, my change is never fast enough,” sings Maxwell, threading vulnerability through a wall of sound that lands somewhere between Veruca Salt, Paramore, and The New Pornographers.
“Big Familiar is a sad song about my hometown,” Maxwell explains. “I have a strong aversion to most forms of nostalgia—even the good memories carry a kind of ache. I seem forgetful or unsentimental, but really I’m just avoiding the past. It’s about the guilt that comes with stepping back from crumbling family ties, even when it’s necessary for your own survival.”
Channeling the jagged catharsis of ’90s alt-rock with a sleek modern edge, Big Familiar is shaping up to be the band’s most personal and fully realized work to date — a record for anyone navigating identity, memory, and what it means to outgrow your origins.
Stella And The Very Messed
Big Familiar
(Double Helix Records)
Release Date: September 29, 2025
Artist Links
Background Photo Credit: Magen Buse
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