“I started this band to force my friends to hang out with me.” says frontman Ryan Walchonski. The post-college sentiment feels silly but pained, like the music coming from DMV band Aunt Katrina. Written by Walchonski alongside local talented collaborators, Aunt Katrina is an exercise in staying in place and making music in your community. The songs on 2023 EP, Hot, careen into place, exciting “pop songs” that never fail to surprise with distorted samples or articulate finger-picking. But it’s the straightforward lyrics and unaffected delivery that circle the dangerously mundane. Aunt Katrina’s live band consists of Ryan Walchonski (feeble little horse), Ray Brown (Snail Mail), Eric Zidar (Tosser), Laney Ackley, Emma Banks, Nick Miller, and sometimes Connor Peters. Despite what you’ve heard, they are all friends.