by Dan Goldin (@paintingwithdan)
Summer is nearly here and that can only mean one thing, the world needs for some new fuzzy punk rippers. Just in time for the next heatwave, Chicago’s Sprite return with Spriite, their exceptionally titled second EP. Recorded at Radon Ranch with engineering from Ben Grigg (Babe Report, Whelpwisher, Milked), the quartet (whose line-up features members of Cel Ray and Wallplant among others) tear through four bent and detached songs, bringing a hazy mix of shoegaze, slacker pop, and alternative rock muscle to the recordings. With warbling distortion, bouncing rhythms, and a layer of basement hiss, Sprite’s latest plays like a fever dream of 90’s lo-fi FM gold. With a mix that includes warts and all in the same dense haze, it’s the perfect landscape for the band’s raw and earnest songs to shine through the shadows.
“Too Far,” the record’s lead single and closing track is dripping in melody, an oozing and sticky ripper of gazey heat. With an emotional core to Sam Brown’s slow pulled vocals, the band work between immediacy and a building tension that stems from a lyrical sense of hesitation. Donny Walsh and Brown’s duel guitar approach is a real highlight of the song, wrapping around each other’s feed-backing riffs with a caterwauling melody that’s as heavy as it is sweet. As the band dig into the song’s triumphant instrumental bridge (with what could be a nod to Swervedriver or perhaps Ovlov), they come bursting out of the pressure cooker with a rampant return to the hook and we’re all the more thankful for it.