Standout Track: Feedback gives way to a blast of sludgy riffs coated in saccharine melodies on “Reserve,” the first track on Polyon’s recently released Blue EP. It’s easily the heaviest that the trio has gotten and represents both a literal and figurative change of pace for the band. “We still haven’t even mastered it,” says guitarist and vocalist Ryan McLaughlin, “and it’s taken us a long time to even feel comfortable playing it because it’s such a slow paced song.” That’s the point, as McLaughlin points out. Writing an album full of songs that sound the same isn’t something he strives for.

Musical Motivation: Lyrically, the song is a piece of advice from McLaughlin to himself. “I feel like in a lot of social settings it’s really easy to compromise your core values to fit in a little bit more,” he says. “It’s really just advice to myself to always try and remember not to give up in those situations.” He’s also quick to point out that, while this might seem like a sort of punk music cliché, the older he gets the more weight he places on these values. “It really matters more now than when I was 20 years old and I could screw up all the time.”

Heavy Impatience: The slow, heavy pace of the track comes primarily from McLaughlin’s lifelong love of heavy music. However, he says, “as much as I love it and have been influenced by it, I just don’t have the patience anymore,” referring to tendency of many post-metal bands to write songs in excess of eight minutes long. “So the whole idea of this project is to condense stuff like that down to a more palatable length.”

Polyon plays an EP release show tonight with Hurry, Governess, and Homosuperior at  7:30 p.m. at Songbyrd Music House & Record Cafe, 2477 18th St. NW. $10. songbyrddc.com.