This story is featured in CityBeat's July 26 print edition.
A few years back, Sam Richardson, founder and operator of Cincinnati-based Feel It Records, received a cold email submission from a duo out of Kansas called Sweeping Promises. What he heard immediately activated his antenna — catchy art-punk that conjures The Go-Go’s by way of the Slits.
“The A side of the record was all they had finished, but I was like, ‘Yes, I would like to hear more when you finish the other five songs,’” Richardson told CityBeat in an interview earlier this year.
Sweeping Promises, led by singer/bassist Lira Mondal and guitarist/drummer Caufield Schnug, eventually sent along five more tunes, resulting in their 2020 full-length debut Hunger for a Way Out. The record quickly became one of Feel It’s best-selling releases.
“I only pressed like 400 copies to start with, and I think now we’re up to 4,000 or something crazy like that,” Richardson said.
In June, the duo released its latest full-length, Good Living Is Coming For You, collaboratively distributed by Feel It, which is handling the domestic release, and Sub Pop Records, which is supplying the rest of the world. The ear-wormy results again employ unconventional hooks amid rudimentary beats and jagged guitar lines, all anchored by Modal’s fizzy vocal delivery. Yet, contrary to its hopeful title, there’s an extra layer of unease here, as if the pandemic-dominated events of the last few years couldn’t help but infect the proceedings — 10 terse, psyche-invading songs in 30 minutes.
The lead track, “Eraser,” sets the tone in an expected way, coming on like early B-52s as Mondal channels Kate Pierson, complete with an a cappella opening, before the song bursts forth via driving rhythms and guitar, all curiously topped by a sweet keyboard line. The album’s title track commences with a stomping beat and clanging guitar, a gut punch accentuated by Mondal’s yearning voice, which delivers this intriguing lyrical admission: “Wave after wave/Gonna come break the surface/This interior’s designed to make you nervous.”
The duo adds a touring drummer for their live shows, a visceral whirlwind sure to leave your frontal lobe in disrepair and your nerves frayed. But it’s not as if Sweeping Promises hasn’t warned you as Mondal repeatedly pleads throughout the title track, “Gotta brace for it!”
Sweeping Promises play MOTR Pub at 8:30 p.m. Aug. 2. Info: motrpub.com.
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