Praise For Lifeguard
“Terrific debut” – The Guardian
“… thrilling and deafening rock that lives somewhere between timeless and contemporary” – NME
“Lifeguard blitzed our senses” – Stereogum
“Loud in a smart, subversive way” – Chicago Reader
“A band that’s constantly one upping themselves.” – Post-Trash
Marking the release of Crowd Can Talk / Dressed in Trenches today, a composite of two EPs, rising Chicago trio Lifeguard have released a video performing lead single ‘17-18 Lovesong’ live at Electrical Audio studio in Chicago.
Lifeguard – ’17-18 Lovesong’ (Live at Electrical Audio)
The performance is culled from an 8-song session recorded by Steve Albini that will premier Thursday, July 13, on Bandcamp Live. The session also features recent single ‘Alarm‘. Quickly earning a reputation for their adroit, high velocity live shows, Stereogum noted of the band’s performance at this year’s SXSW, “Lifeguard blitzed our senses (…) The songs coursed with the anxious energy of youth, but not the clumsiness. It was half an hour of tense, fast-paced post-punk with sharp edges and (sometimes) flatted fifths, delivered with a confidence and authority that either belies Lifeguard’s age or underlines it”.
Lifeguard – ‘Alarm’ (Live at Electrical Audio)
Stream / Download: https://lifeguard.
Formed in 2019, Lifeguard are Asher Case (bass, vocals), Isaac Lowenstein (drums, percussion), and Kai Slater (guitar, vocals). At its core, Lifeguard is a punk band. Their music is loud and energetic. It’s also, at its core, visceral and hypnotic. For the Chicago-based trio that can include repetition and blasts of speaker cone-shredding feedback. Their songs adeptly balance melody and chaos, rhythm and drone. Hooks and noise are held to the same standard. Both have to stick.
They’re a young band, but they’ve already found a place at the forefront of an important emerging music community in their hometown. They are quite prolific. In just three years, Lifeguard has put out a full-length, two EPs, and two 7” singles.
Crowd Can Talk and Dressed in Trenches are closely related. They were recorded in separate sessions, but at the same studio (Electrical Audio) and with the same engineer (Mike Lust) and within the space of 12 months. Each finds the band refining its voice – honing songs that are succinct, hooky, and propulsive. There’s a newly disciplined attention to detail. Lifeguard write together through collaboration and improvisation, but they’ve learned to streamline their sound, to make each hook, beat, and gesture purposeful. On each record, there are echoes of underground guitar bands from decades past. This is not record-collector music, though. It’s the product of a present-day community. Lifeguard are, first and foremost, a performing band and the songs are written to stand up in that moment.
“More than old records – before that, before anything – we’re influenced by live shows and people around us,” explains Slater. “The inspiration comes from playing shows with people and having that mind-blown moment of seeing some friend play at Schubas or Book Club,” adds Lowenstein. “It’s happening on these tiny little scales of seeing kids play live and [knowing] this is something new and interesting.”
Lifeguard – ’17-18 Lovesong’ (Official Video)
Stream / Download: https://lifeguard.
1. New Age (I’ve Got A)
2. I Know I Know
3. Fifty Seven
4. Typecast
Dressed in Trenches
1. 17-18 Lovesong
2. Alarm
3. Ten Canisters (OFB)
4. Shutter Shutter
5. Tell Me When
