Out now: Lifeguard – Ripped and Torn

Out now, Ripped and Torn is the eagerly awaited debut album by Chicago trio Lifeguard. Also released is the band’s churning third single ‘Like You’ll Lose’. The dub-inflected track takes inspiration from Lee Perry’s tight drum sound and expansive lo-fi atmospherics, with Asher Case’s bassline providing a center of gravity for skittering rhythms and tumbling echoes.

The band has also been profiled by Rolling Stone, who write “Ripped and Torn still features plenty of distressed instrumentation and feedback-drenched atmosphere. But the band uses those qualities in the service of some of the year’s tightest, catchiest rock songs, full of hooks that will ricochet around your head all summer.”

Recorded last year in Chicago with producer Randy Randall, the album captures a claustrophobic scrappiness that evokes the feeling and energy of house parties and tightly-packed rooms, where ears are easily overwhelmed, and ragged improvisations connect with the same force as melodic hooks.

The trio of Asher Case (bass, baritone guitar, vocals), Isaac Lowenstein (drums, synth), and Kai Slater (guitar, vocals) have been making music together since they were in high school, nearly a quarter of their lives. Noisy and immediate, cryptic but heartfelt, they draw inspiration from punk, dub, power-pop and experimental sounds, and bring them all together in explosive cacophony.

Stream / download Ripped and Torn here.