by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Atlanta’s Red Sea have been years ahead of the curve since their first release back at the turn of the decade. From swarming shoegaze to detached post-punk, the band have taken an experimental approach that always has them just ahead of the pack, making forward thinking music that consistently challenges everything they’ve done before it. Their unflinching path into new territory has lead them to synth pop, embracing it in their own disjointed way, but undeniably pop with touches of top 40, electronic music, and R&B mixed in to blur lines and to push the band well out of their comfort zone.
Earlier this year they shared “Love Is Blind,” the first hint at their sound to come and now the band return with the announcement of their new album, Sugar & Spice, due out February 22nd via Truly Bald Records (Surface To Air Missive, Zach Phillips, Jake Tobin). With that comes the premiere of the warped and bubbling “Jumprope” single, a song that takes a shiny pop base and distorts it into Red Sea’s own image, picking and prodding at melodies and arrangements. The song plinks between choppy rhythm and new-wave inspired guitars and synths that shift without warning, a song that embraces dance grooves but throws all structural guidelines to the wind.
Red Sea will celebrate the album’s release on Saturday, February 23rd at 529 in East Atlanta Village with Locate S,1 and Paradise Montage.