by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
We just featured “Unoriginal,” the first single from Spread Joy’s upcoming self-titled as one of our new favorite tracks. With the album set for release on April 2nd via Feel It Records (Sweeping Promises, Silicone Prairie, Smirk) there’s little time to waste however and the Chicago band are sharing a new video for two of the album’s many highlights, “St. Tropez” and “Semantics.” That idea of no time to waste is one that Spread Joy most definitely take to heart with the ten song debut clocking in at fourteen minutes. It’s all pulp, no juice… or all juice, no pulp, whichever way you want to look at it. The band’s post-punk sound is razor sharp and impeccably tight, bouncing around with a casual jitteriness and the acrobatic vocals of Briana Hernandez.
“St. Tropez,” originally released last year as a stand-alone single, it’s a minute of neon-glow energy, both in the song itself and the video. The band’s riffs are disjointed and densely wound, intertwining with the tight rhythm, creating a mangled groove for Hernandez’s rapid yelp and the proclamation “queer menace here to ruin your day.” On the other side, “Semantics” is slightly more restrained, still routed in the hard shifts of classic post-punk detachment, but with a greater sense of melody, even if it often comes across in the most sarcastic of vocal lines. It’s infectious and full of biting charm, with a primal sort of deconstructed garage punk focus reshaped and spit back out.