You Say I Romanticize [Yellow Vinyl LP]

Sweeping Promises – You Say I Romanticize [Yellow Vinyl LP]

Sweeping Promises’ introduction to the global punk underground was their debut album, Hunger for a Way Out, which ended up being one of the breakout successes in music during pandemic lockdown. In 2023, they followed up with Good Living is Coming for You, a satirical, hyper-critical rebuke of capitalism that made Album of the Year lists for Pitchfork, NPR, Paste, and BBC, just to name a few. Bassist/vocalist Lira Mondal and guitarist Caufield Schnug decided to tilt their approach a few degrees forward on their third LP.The big theme of You Say I Romanticize is hinted at in it’s title. Coming from a lyric sung on album closer “Write Lightly”-a narrative about the importance of self-expression in writing being scrubbed away by “professional” concerns-many of the characters singer/bassist Mondal fleshed out here are outcasts, marginalized by society and turned into fanatics for a cornucopia of specific causes.The visceral songwriting on You Say I Romanticize features an equally visceral musical approach. Sweeping Promises brought live drummer Spenser Gralla into the recording sessions to give the songs a similar urgency to their live show. The frenzy of it’s execution also materializes in Mondal’s vocal performances.A shadow side exists along with Sweeping Promises’ love (more…)