(Feel It Records)
It’s a story told often: bands finding their identity using minimal resources, from recording in basements and bathrooms to using single microphone setups, intent on creating a sound out of necessity. Sweeping Promises follows a similar path with their homegrown lo-fi, which teeters between deliberate and spontaneous, packing a hook-filled mix of exuberant anthems that feel bigger than they are. Their recording aesthetic doesn’t even obscure what might initially seem like deficiencies; it’s not like they raise the fuzz either, and that grainier filter ends up resonating in a good, if slightly uncomfortable, way. Once the ears adapt to the environment they’ve created, the second album by the duo Lira Mondel and Caufield Schnug emerges with tuneful pop smarts that could’ve ignited any college rock scene in the early eighties.
Commanded by Mondel’s malleable howl and Shnug’s dynamic guitar freakouts, the duo captures a powerful portrait of new wave on Coinnoseur of Salt and You Shatter—evoking the joyful yet reckless drive of bands like Missing Persons and Berlin. The ramshackle spirit of bands under the Lawrence, Kansas-based label Fresh Sounds comes through subconsciously on Throw of the Dice—they transplanted to Lawrence from Boston before recording the album—more notable in its equally astringent and catchy chord progressions. Fans of cult art punks The Embarrassment, rejoice! They mostly revel in the more cutting side of post-punk, but there’s a sweetness that balances the sharper notes.
That Sweeping Promises avoid sounding like a facsimile of their influences is also a testament to their tight rhythm section, especially in their labyrinthian grooves, which seem ready-made for awkward indie dance parties. There’s a playful side to songs like Can’t Hide It and Shadow Me that satisfy record collectors and local scenesters alike, tackling themes like gentrification and power dynamics with an urgency that feels downright cathartic. More relatable is the title track, Good Living is Coming for You, which takes something of a double meaning in how it describes their tireless hustle navigating DIY scenes through the years. Maintaining their independence has been creatively fruitful for the duo, without a doubt. But maybe, just maybe, Good Living is Coming for You also becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
7 July, 2023 – 01:00 — Juan Edgardo Rodriguez
