There is a restless quality to ‘I Learn To Love’ that suits The Schisms well. As the first glimpse of forthcoming EP Tejas, the track finds the Austin trio pushing towards something more immediate and less shadow-bound than the mood of their previous album Moon, while still holding onto the strangeness that gives their music its character.
Recorded with Stuart Sikes, ‘I Learn To Love’ reportedly took shape partly in the studio, and that spontaneity comes through in the finished track. The rhythm feels loose and slightly unruly, while the guitars carry a rough psychedelic edge that keeps the song from settling too comfortably. There is punk energy in the way it moves, but also a sense of repetition and momentum that gives the track a more hypnotic pull.
And that balance between instinct and structure is what makes the song work. It doesn’t sound overworked or overly polished. Instead, the performance feels alive, as though the band is following the song’s energy in real time.
The video extends that feeling further. Created with Three-Eyed Cat Collective, it leans into a deliberately grimier view of Austin, favouring VHS textures, offbeat humour and surreal imagery over anything too polished or familiar. The result fits the track’s character well, especially in the way it combines local identity with something stranger and more chaotic.
‘I Learn To Love’ also points towards a broader shift in Tejas. Written partly during a period of isolation in Colorado and partly through studio sessions, the EP appears to move away from some of the darker weight of the band’s earlier work in favour of something more open and energised.
With this new anthem, The Schisms sound less interested in refining every edge than in preserving the spark that created the song in the first place. Raw, eccentric and full of movement, it suggests Tejas could mark an interesting new phase for the band.