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Lifeguard: Ripped and Torn review – this brilliant post-punk racket sounds like a trip to a rivet factory

(Matador)The Chicago threepiece’s bold debut is a blast of circular-saw guitars, baffling lyrics and effervescent melodyAfter emerging from the Chicago DIY scene five years ago, Lifeguard’s long-awaited debut crashes in with loud guitars and drums like a statement of intent. Opening track A Tightwire sets the template for the album: urgent, off-kilter and even slightly disorienting. The youthful trio of Kai Slater (guitar, vocals), Asher Case (bass, baritone guitar, vocals) and Isaac Lowenstein (drums, synth) have played together since high school, which has meant they have a musical understanding and are as tight as the proverbial nut.Theirs is angular, driving post-punk with audible echoes of the Pop Group, Wire, Gang of Four and the Wedding Present, but they’ve certainly brought their own spin to it. The songs blaze forth with hurtling, mostly indecipherable imagery. They could be yelling “I am the spy on your pillow” or “words like tonality come to me”. What does it all mean? Who knows – but it’s fun thinking it through. Continue reading...

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