"How you are to me / You shatter /A distant memory / You shatter / You shatter / You shatter / You shatter..."
Diving head first into "You Shatter" by Lawrence, Kansas based duo Sweeping Promises turned up ultra loud in my closed cup headphones this morning watching my coffee brewing and a dozen thoughts popped in my head. The lo-fi post punk sound is mesmerizing to me. It is a sound I am fond of, it speaks to my love of seeing bands in less than perfect settings (sonically speaking) like LA loft / warehouse shows or the iconic The Smell or other now defunct venues in Silverlake, in Pomona and other places in California.
The vintage, lo-fi quality with radio transmission-esque tones that might favor mids and highs over super lows pushes buttons that actually relate nicely to vintage Motown recordings and more than once while listening to "You Shatter" I could imagine that The Ronettes might of sounded like this if this kind of Punk existed in the early 60's. I mean Lira Mondal's vocal countenance does have something similar happening even though I would be hard pressed to describe clearly what I mean. With Caufield Schnug, the two do mine a cross generational punk manifesto and in the same way that early Blondie and the Ramones pulled from 50's rock I feel some of that happening, plus nods to an iconic punk spread of artists like X, Gang of Four, Missing Persons, Holly & The Italians and more.
Digging this sound, one that feels raw and rough but is equally complex in it's sound building, in it's iteration of different genres. "You Shatter" is one of the first peaks of Sweeping Promises' new album "Good Living Is Coming For You", dropping on June 30th, (2023).
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.facebook.com/sweepingpromiseshttps://open.spotify.com/artist/5k9qBHdkzsibPmFJp1XIAt
https://www.instagram.com/sweeping.promises/
https://sweepingpromises.bandcamp.com/album/good-living-is-coming-for-you-2
In 2020, Sweeping Promises read our pandemic minds with Hunger for a Way Out. In 2023, they return with a new message: Good Living Is Coming For You. At first glance, this nouveau wave slogan offers hope wrapped around relief. At first listen, we realize this may actually be a warning. Darker still, a threat. A band famous for their unfussy, monolithic anthems, Sweeping Promises elegantly ravage us again with another future classic. They return as a fist of velvet rose petals roaring inside a compact wrecking ball. Gone is the Boston brutalist ambience of their subterranean concrete laboratory and the revelatory single mic recording technique. In its place, a retired and resplendent nude painting studio in Lawrence, Kansas, bathed in light with high ceilings and hardwood floors. Guided once again by their surrounding architecture, a reverb-rich space remains the defining element at the heart of their highly stylized sound. A watery ghost from the golden age of art-punk now wields sharper knives and more microphones. If the mood of HFAWO was hungry, GLICFY is RAVENOUS. In 2023, appetite is addressed in new ways: Power struggles are aired in “Eraser,” restraints are broken in “You Shatter,” anguished exclamations sting in “Good Living Is Coming for You.” The taboo subject of aging is (s)heroically dragged out into the open. Every line is delivered with such joyous, soaring layers that each punch lands like a chef’s kiss.
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