ALBUM REVIEW: Sweeping Promises – You Say I Romanticize

Sub Pop

Released: 14.08.26

Wrapping itself around you and screaming sweet nothings into your ears through a set of tin-cup telephones, You Say I Romanticize is the latest offering from Sweeping Promises.

The power duo are back with their frenetic art punk style that will equally satisfy as well as leave you famished and craving more. Opener Shooting Shadows defines the band’s immediate intent – angular post punk guitar riffs coupled with a jerky nervous beat while singer/bassist Lire Mondal snarls an infectious and harmonious melody of the track’s title. This roar spills out and reaches every edge and crevice of the album, including the positively pulsating Cocoon.

Lyrically, woven into each track is the essence of literary history, narratives about the art of writing and outcasts being marginalized by society – a feeling any spurned misfit who has ever picked up a pen or blurted out on a keyboard can relate to. Last Man is loosely inspired by the works of the O.G (Original Goth) Mary Shelley, while My Anchoress is an ode to 15th century author Julian of Norwich, one of the earliest physical evidence of a woman creating English-written work.

Guitarist/producer Caufield Schung creates an enticing soundscape that mimics the ferocity and manic nature of the band’s live shows, like you are hearing them through an open window while you’re out having a smoke. Other images conjured, primarily by the driving drudge of Abduction On Camera and My Friend’s an Entomologist – your car’s brakes have been cut and you’re careening towards a cliff, however the sunset is stunning and ever inviting.

This is an intensity to You Say I Romanticize, a desperation and a desire to live, which beautifully echoes the amazingly unique and chaotic circumstances of its creation – home recordings and scheduling issues. Truly, art by any means necessary. A short sharp breath in and a long growl of an exhale – I hope they gave their new Kansas neighbours hell.