“The band’s post-hardcore song structures, experimental indulgences, and fleeting hooks explode into the scruffy cacophony that has turned them into one of their city’s must-see young live bands.” – Pitchfork
“There’s not a moment on either EP that feels any less than thrilling” – Treble
“Truly an exhibition of Lifeguard’s limitless potential” – Alternative Press
“Brief but scorching, Crowd Can Talk proves that Lifeguard can cram a lot of life into 17 minutes, and they’ve powered up that skill on Dressed in Trenches.” – Chicago Reader
“… thrilling and deafening rock that lives somewhere between timeless and contemporary” – NME
‘Crowd Can Talk’ / ‘Dressed In Trenches ’ double EP out now
Last month, Lifeguard released a 40-minute live session filmed at Chicago’s Electrical Audio. The set focuses on songs from their Matador debut, the double EP Crowd Can Talk + Dressed in Trenches. What they held back: A spot-on cover of The Jam’s classic debut single, ‘In the City.’
Listen to it HERE.
Lifeguard have just returned from a summer US tour with labelmates and fellow Chicagoans, Horesegirl. That run opened with a packed show at Central Park SummerStage and closed with a sold-out homecoming gig at Thalia Hall. The trio was the subject of a recent Pitchfork “Rising” profile. The site wrote about the band, its formation, and its place in Chicago’s young DIY community.
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.
LIFEGUARD
