Sharp Pins is the solo brainchild of Kai Slater, a stylishly lanky 20-year-old who has come to position himself as the unassuming spokesman of Chicago’s DIY indie rock scene. If Radio DDR saw Slater playing the hits, Balloon Balloon Balloon is his sandbox for weird, retrofitted experiments that see him tinkering with both fidelity and expectation.
With Electric Hour, Sword II have full control over their resilient, variegated version of rock. They emerge into the present with a singular, science-fiction-esque, “easy to listen to uneasiness” that so subtly and succinctly captures the paranoid scrutiny of society today, while offering pathways towards collective resilience.
Michelangelo Dying is a strong collection of memory and hurt. It’s a reminder to dance despite the sorrow. Cate Le Bon has a gift of cutting through the crap, delivering a record that is at once pure and tender, yet brutally honest and descriptive of the humiliation and joy of falling in (and out) of love.
