Origami Angel wrote your East Coast summer anthem, and it’s pretty emo

Heagy is one half of the D.C.-based emo duo Origami Angel, and creating this summer’s rock anthem was the driving force behind the June release of “The Brightest Days” — except, instead of West Coast ease, it’s all about East Coast anxiety. The humidity is unbearable, the tourists have arrived, and who has the energy to leave the house, anyway? There’s nothing romantic about it.

But after Origami Angel’s expansive, explosive “Gami Gang” in 2021, a 20-song album that proved the group can spread its sound out in all directions (the mix veers from punk to pop to bossa nova), it feels fitting that it would land on a consistent theme for this release.

“We usually have this sound and we can pull other elements of other genres, any other style, into that sound and kind of make it work for a song,” Heagy says. “For this project, I wanted to do the antithesis of that, where we do a whole vibe and then try to put our sound into it.”

And while the “mixtape” (not quite long enough for the duo to call it an album, but certainly longer than their two three-song 2022 EPs) does stick to a coherent theme, it also swings seamlessly between highs and lows. Take the opener, which shares a name with the project: It starts with mellow harmonies and a ukulele instrumental before raging into a rapid-fire second half, with Origami Angel’s signature loud, riffing guitar. “Where are you, my sunny feeling I knew as a kid?” Heagy sings in both sections.

It’s a yearning for a metaphorical home, sure, but it’s also a reference to Heagy and drummer Pat Doherty’s real hometowns in Prince George’s County. There’s a new song named for the Maryland region, aptly called “My PG County Summer,” that deals with the ways D.C. belongs not just to those who call it home, but to Americans who use the city as a political stage: “They come from up North, they come from down South / With gas in their cars, stones in their hands and hate in their hearts,” the too-catchy chorus rings again and again. Heagy says it’s a nod to antiabortion marches in downtown D.C. during the early days of the pandemic quarantine.

Yet something about this project, an homage to summer in D.C., feels like a reclamation of their hometown. So it’s only right that, despite a recent United Kingdom tour and upcoming international tour that includes Japan dates, the duo are playing three consecutive nights at some of the District’s smallest and most beloved venues (Pie Shop, DC9 and Union Stage) as their extended record release party.

“We love all the venues, and we just wanted to have a chance to do almost a fake residency,” Heagy says. “Every show we play in D.C. is one of the best shows we play as a band.”

July 13 at 8 p.m. at Pie Shop, 1339 H St. NE. events.pieshopdc.com. Sold out. July 14 at 7:30 p.m. at DC9, 1940 Ninth St. NW. dc9.club. Sold out. July 15 at 7 p.m. at Union Stage, 740 Water St. SW. unionstage.com. $25-$40.