by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Come for the glistening pop hooks, stay for the immaculate and complex guitar parts. Minneapolis’ Sass will release their debut album, Chew Toy, on May 31st via Heavy Meadow Records (Products, Gash, The Curfews), a record with enough knotted riffs and shifting rhythms that you’ll have this on repeat. For every moment exhausted on complexity, it’s all balanced with Stephanie Jo Murck’s (Scrunchies) delicate vocal melodies and emotional lyrics that feel personable but relatable, like a sympathetic ear that isn’t afraid to shout when necessary.
The band use their voice to express important issues, from body image and heartbreak (“Chew Toy”) to the idea of settling because “someone in better than nothing” (“Spoiled By Rotten”), and they won’t be taking any bullshit sitting down. The band flex their post-hardcore muscles (“See Saw”) as well as deeply inspired harmonies (“Praying To God”) and let them both rip to the point of collapse, spiraling off toward the tangled void just as their songs hit the sweetest spots. Sass’ debut is pretty unpredictable, opting to for the hedge maze when everyone else is just taking the sidewalk.