

Beefing up the Afterneath and filling it out with faux synth vibes is the Electro-Harmonix POG2. The EQD Afterneath brings in ambient, deep, spelunking reverbs.

She really likes how the echo and fuzz circuits interact with the Joyo. She claims this is her "most-utilized" pedal. Next is the Death By Audio Echo Dream 2 that brings in modulation, delay, and boost/fuzz. The filth and fury comes in the potent pairing of a Joyo Vintage Overdrive and EarthQuaker Devices Palisades. Even her delays and reverbs accentuate weird, supernatural flavor crystals. (Okay, that's a bit of a stretch, but you get the point.) Nothing Scott has selected for her stomp station can be described as subtle or translucent. It's often used in marketing speak for the next-best pedal offering organic, free-range, USDA-approved tone. And most of the set is in standard tuning, but there is a rare moment or two she'll go down to drop d. However, that experiment appears to be fleeting as she mentions in the Rundown that she's been breaking a lot more strings with the lighter gauge. She typically plays on Ernie Ball Power Slinkys (.011 –.048), but this run she opted for Regular Slinky. Some of the reasons she hasn't strayed too far from this particular T is its comfy neck profile, lightweight body, and rounder, more aggressive pickups than her aforementioned Jazzmaster or the ES-335 that was a collective Christmas gift from her family. "I'm in every way obsessed with this guitar," gushes Scott in a recent Big 5 video with PG. Her current main squeeze is this Fender American Vintage '72 Telecaster Thinline. She's still in the Fender family, but she remembers 2016 as the year she first flirted with the Telecaster, and she hasn't since looked back. When Torres first hit PG's radar back in 2015, she was predominately raging onstage with a new-ish stock Fender Jazzmaster. Before soundcheck Scott introduced PG to her Tele companions, explained why she'd rather play with bloody fingers than use a pick, and showed how seven stomps cover all the shades of traditional rock guitar and much more. Out in support of her new album, Torres' October 14 Nashville show had her headlining the Exit/In. There's still some 6-string fire.) And now Thirstier is a concise blast of catchy, power pop numbers that are heavier and shinier. Last year's self-produced Silver Tongue twisted the previous albums' makeup into an unusual two-step that often made the guitars pretty and the synths wicked. And 2017's Three Futures stripped back the guitar barrage for an electronic bent, centered around stark beats and cold synths. Sprinter, from 2015, was angsty, urgent, and erratic. Those divergent personalities and approaches result in singular musical snapshots rather than a predictable path through each performance, song, and album. And when it comes time to play big power chords, honestly, I just make my fingers bleed," she says. I like playing really crunchy, loud, aggressive stuff in the styling of a classical player. Even her playing style is at odds with itself.
