by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Nearly a year ago to the day, Chicago’s Spread Joy released their self-titled debut album, one of our absolute favorite records of the year. The band’s tightly coiled art-punk is impeccably tight but there’s a radiant weirdness to it all, thanks in part to vocalist Briana Hernandez, who consistently dazzles with her control. The album, just under fourteen minutes in length, most definitely left us wanting more and thankfully, the wait is already over. The quartet return with their second album, the appropriately titled, II, due out once again via Feel It Records (Crime of Passing, Delivery, Romero) on May 13th. Stretching out with nearly eighteen minutes of music this time around, the band keep the formula the same, but expand with exaggerated immediacy, the occasional harmony, and maybe a bit more force. The show still belongs to Hernandez front and center, leading us around bent melodies and energetic chants.
Lead single “Repetition” plays it smooth, a song that finds a deep groove and lets it ride. In the context of the record it’s a brief respite from the constantly rattled nature of the album’s first two songs, but Spread Joy only allow the song to be mesmerizing for a bit, eventually embracing toward the more abrasive once again. The bass kicks into over drive and the guitars begin to stab with purpose, the entire pace feeling as though hurled forward. Spread Joy lull us with a stop/start rhythm reminiscent of bands like PYLON or more recently Fake Fruit, and then they turn on the gas, with both sides of the song playing their part to perfection.