The heated urgency that drives “Fire” may be its defining feature. Yes, those staggered drums set the tone and that air raid siren guitar certainly lights the fuse for the fireworks to come, but it’s the delivery here that matters. The second single from Kwazymoto’s upcoming third full length, My American Family, is a balled fist of acerbic tension and aggression. Ian Hemerlein’s rap-sung verses provide a focal point and a kind of steadying presence, but the real magic starts to happen when the words start to buckle and mutate into a primal scream.
Although the Athens noise punks have spent the last few years writing, recording, and performing as a trio, My American Family marks the first LP that features the band’s original two-person lineup. However, the loss of personnel doesn’t seem to have affected the group’s ability to write tattered and abrasive songs layered in detail and emotion. If anything, the duo sound as vibrant and ambitious as ever, as the seething discord of “Fire” so amply proves.
Listen below.
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Zeke Sayer at Gypsy Farm Studio, My American Family is out Sept. 28.
Kwazymoto will celebrate the release of My American Family on Sat., Oct. 6 at the Caledonia Lounge alongside Waltz and Jet Phase. Doors open at 9 p.m. Admission is $5. 18+ to enter.
More Info
Bandcamp: kwazymoto.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @kwazymot0