On April 11th, 2025– Florida based Indie Power-Punk band Virginity released their newest EP “Fidelity Castro” via Smartpunk Records and I never personally listened to this band before, but once we got this press release, I decided to give them a listen! And this band gives me early 2000’s nostalgic vibes that reminds me of the good days when I was a teenager going to Vans Warped Tour every year. I noticed each song on this EP; one song would be softer and more slower than the next song would be upbeat and chaotic. In my opinion; I loved how the songs were arranged in that aspect because it shows how diverse the band can be and that they are capable of creating music that’s fun, but yet heartfelt.

“Fidelity Castro started out being a way to just throw a couple of tunes out that had been sitting on the back burner for a while. As we assembled those, we kept returning to the live recordings we’d done in Jordan’s living room when we first started writing for Bad Jazz and felt like a couple of songs had so much life in them that we had to send them out into the world with our new recordings. We’ve also got a Shins tune on here because we’re just fans of that band and that record (Chutes Too Narrow) in particular. That was just something fun to do and a challenge, to make it our own a little. Lastly, we’ve got Love Exists, which is a song so incredibly void of any cynicism (basically an idea that’s nonexistent in our catalog) that we weren’t sure what to do with it. Should we rerecord it, make it a full band affair, or perhaps make it a proper piano ballad or something? Ultimately, we decided the magic was already there and that it should just be put out as is. The arc of this band has been about progressively getting more and more authentic. In a way, Fidelity is our most authentic release yet. There’s a real “scars and all” approach to it. We’re not being precious about any of it and, for now, that’s really inspiring and exciting for us. We really believe that some of these songs are some of the best we have to offer, and we’re so proud of this little collection.” – Virginity

FIDELITY CASTRO EP TRACK LISTING:
1. Marked Difference
2. Something I Can’t Have
3. Not So In Love (Rocky II Secret of the Ooze Session)
4. I Think I Get It (Hoosier Illusion Session)
5. Kissing The Lipless
6. Love Exists (Nissan Quest Session)

Listen to Fidelity Castro here!

Smartpunk has been a recognizable name in the scene for a long time (Remember that sponsored Warped Tour stage?!). After exchanging several hands and countless ideas of what it could and should be, they decided to start a record label in 2016 with the main idea of focusing solely on reissuing records that have been out of print or never on vinyl. After all, they’re a label of vinyl dorks themselves! After releasing Set Your Goals‘ Mutiny and Gameface‘s Good, they started to venture into signing newer bands. They actively balance in between many worlds — putting out amazing music from friends and bands that rock, reissuing older titles, and partnering with other incredible labels in our scene and doing exclusive color variants of their releases.

Keep Up With Virginity Online: Instagram / Facebook / Bandcamp