Band of the Day: ostraca, Richmond Screamo

Who they are

ostraca are a screamo trio from Richmond, Virginia. Gus Caldwell plays bass and sings. Brian Russo plays guitar. John Crogan plays drums. The three started making music together in high school around 2008, first in a band called Kilgore Trout. The first ostraca show was in 2015. The band has released music for over a decade, according to Everything Is Noise.

Discography

Seven releases are listed on the ostraca Bandcamp page. Early records include deathless, the faces of the moving year split, last, and enemy. Disaster came out in 2023 on Skeletal Lightning. Eventualities followed in 2025 and opened with “Song For A Closed Door”. Thread is the newest release, out June 26, 2026.

Labels

The band moved from Skeletal Lightning to Persistent Vision Records after Disaster, per The Auricular. Persistent Vision is a Richmond label. It runs the annual Dark Days, Bright Nights festival. The label has also released records by Prisoner, Pygmy Lush and .gif From God.

Thread

Thread has six songs and runs 35:42. The tracklist is:

• Uncollected 5:52.
• Enmiserate 4:32.
• Song For November 7:44.
• Ganymede 4:11.
• Freedom From Pain 5:00.
• Greater Darkness (Something Worse) 8:23.

Most songs pass the five minute mark. Ganymede is an instrumental. Freedom From Pain opens with a deep roar from Caldwell. Everything Is Noise describes the album as screamo paired with post-rock atmosphere building. Caldwell has said the band prefers dark, intense and abrasive screamo. Some lyrics draw on the writing of Thomas Ligotti and Emil Cioran.

The band recorded Thread in November 2025 with Danny Gibney. Tracking took five days at Soundcheck Infinity in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Gibney engineered, mixed and mastered the record. He also worked on Eventualities and Disaster. Art and layout are by Garrett Smith. Photography and collage are by Nika Mckagen. The band started writing the album after an Asian tour.

Where to buy and listen

The Persistent Vision shop pressed 225 copies on pink with black and white splatter. Another 225 came on black ice with pink and white splatter. A tour exclusive run of 125 opaque gold copies was also pressed. Cassettes came in runs of 105 gold and 20 pink. The jacket is matte with an OBI strip and lyric insert. All variants are sold out at the label shop.

The album is streamable on Bandcamp. The label directs EU and UK buyers to Dog Knights Productions, Force Majeure, Shove Records and VOTU Records. Devil Dog Distro is also listed. Those shops offer cheaper shipping.