by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Boston’s Zip-Tie Handcuffs have been making stoney garage punk for over a decade now, earning a reputation as one of the city’s most reliable live acts. Set to release their fifth album, Warm Shadows, on July 6th via King Pizza Records (The Mad Doctors, Teen Mortgage, Daddies), the record is a culmination of everything they’ve built over the last years from heavy fuzz rock to retro surf pop and hazy, shreddy, psych punk. It’s pounding and immediate, a collection of could-be anthems and songs that will surely be shouted in unison during sweaty basement shows for years to come.
“The Larch” is the album’s second single, a mountainous riff bursts the track open at the seems from the start and the band dig into a sludge pop deep dive from there. It’s thick with overdriven distortion and bright melodic hooks, giving a lift to the guitars downward motion. This one is syrupy with a weedy charm, like a dizzying stumble from out of the dark into the blinding rays of the sun, it’s disorienting and ultimately triumphant, as tempos shift from a quick pace to a crawl, and after a well balanced psych rock exploration, back into their unique garage punk oblivion.