I’m not sure what you do in your bedroom; that’s between you and however secure your lock is but Jake Sprecher has been playing with himself and recording the album Try Not To Think. Try Not To Think as The Wind-Ups. If you don’t like being surprised by loud noises or people bursting balloons behind you then brace yourself before you push play on this album.
From ‘Too Many Bibles’, which launches the album like cannon fire, to the final track ‘Concrete Rose’ you are the cannonball exploding out of the barrel on an 18 minute scream-ride that could dislocate a few joints or loosen some fillings. It’s a relentless assault on the senses and one that mastering tech Dave Gardner (Black Lips, King Khan) calls “one of the loudest records I’ve ever worked on”. If you can imagine a Mogadon Ramones or The Beach Boys in quicksand, track after track feels like having your senses applied to a cheese grater and though there’s a pleasant pop song buried deep within their core these songs are soaked in distortion, rusty nails, razor blades, and truckloads of attitude.
‘Try Not To Think. Try Not To Think’ as a request is not a difficult ask as most brain activity shuts down when listening to the album, it’s as if your grey matter is being squeezed from either side by this glorious sonic assault. Every track is full of punk snarl and garage grit but this garage is on fire while the band just carries on playing. Forget coffee, forget defibrillators just attach headphones and fire up this album to make you feel truly alive.
It has already been available as a digital download since July but now gets a clear/mint splatter vinyl release available from Rough Trade (UK) or MT.ST.MTN in the USA.
The Wind-Ups socials: Instagram
Review by Paul F Cook
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