Where they from?
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. So after a quick browse of Myrtle Beach I see that it’s actually illegal to wear a thonged bathing suit in the town of Myrtle Beach and that back in 2013 a woman was actually arrested for breaking this law. Can you believe this shit? Where is Sisqó when you need him?
Why the hype?
Last year around this time, I wrote about the eloquently-named FUCKED and was greatly impressed with some of the more melodic exploration they did on their HYPERSOMNIA EP, a welcome breath of fresh air during the pandemic’s early, dark days. So I was beyond thrilled when I discovered this newish project that took the enormous leap of faith of combining grindcore with… shoegaze?
Yes that’s right, you read that last sentence correctly. Much like how Deafheaven tore open a big smiling hole [lol] into the dark heart of black metal back in the early 2010’s, Sugar Wounds does the same but the somehow even more impenetrable [lmao] shroud of grindcore. The results are remarkable, often straddling [lulz] the line between acts as disparate as My Bloody Valentine, Melt-Banana, Gridlink and the aforementioned Deafheaven.
Latest Release?
Calico Dreams. This is both a great grind record and a luscious piece of shoegaze, and more importantly, it opens the doorway for a lot of interesting possibilities for the future of grind in this coming decade. Take album closer “Goodnight, Midnight” for example. It explodes forth with a beautifully angular guitar riff that wouldn’t be out of place on Longhena and ultimately culminates with three minutes of beautiful stargazing that left me in a near dream state (the people driving behind me were not very pleased). It’s not often that you can say a record in the grindcore realm has an emotional impact, but I think that with the end of this dreadful pandemic finally coming into sight, the hope and wonder of Calico Dreams is the perfect soundtrack to us rediscovering the things that bring joy and meaning to our lives.
