by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
There's a lot to be said for a great pairing, with two things complimenting each other, both bringing out the best in one another. The combo of Columbus, OH's Connections and the incredible hot streak of Trouble In Mind Records is a match made in heaven. Connections have spent the past six years releasing some of the finest fuzzy lo-fi records this side of Alien Lanes, including 2016's defining ripper, Midnight Run. Trouble In Mind, for anyone not paying attention, have recently released albums from FACS, Omni, Salad Boys, Headroom, Sunwatchers, Olden Yolk, and beyond. The concise and boisterous pop songs of Connections fits in quite nicely, and on May 11th the band will release their latest record, Foreign Affairs.
Picking up where Midnight Run left off, the band continue to tighten the screws, refining their lo-fi pop clamor with bigger hooks and exceedingly inescapable melodies. These songs will be stuck in heads, and no one is going to complain. "Isle Insane," the album's second single is jangly and bright, stacked with classic rock brilliance and hooks at every corner. The band's twin guitars lay down a persistently pleasant riff, an easily digestible boogie that benefit's the song's catchiest vocal melodies the way a Tom Petty classic might... if Tom Petty was raised on a steady diet of all things Robert Pollard. The band break from their harmonic shifting riff with two exceptional solos, each one burning it's own trail into the melody's steady pull. There's no sense in fighting it, let it seep in.
Connections' Foreign Affairs is out May 11th via Trouble In Mind Records.