Photo by Mariana Belaval

The thing that appeals to your listening experience most when listening to Horsegirl and Lifeguard, two bands at the forefront of Chicago’s next gen of rockists, is in each’s no-fear-no-rules approach to making music discordant and formless, which in turn has been rendering some of the more wilder moves in guitar rock in way too long of a time. “17-18 Lovesong”, the first preview from Lifeguard’s upcoming double EP collecting last year’s Crowd Can Talk with their newest (and first since joining Horsegirl on the Matador Records roster,) Dressed In Trenches, is just that right kind of head boggling energy that proves why a fresh perspective from the trio of guitarist and vocalist Kai Slater, bassist and vocalist Asher Case, and drummer Isaac Lowenstein is the answer to breaking indie rock out of its monotonous, middling malaise. Lyrically obtuse in its seemingly teenage romance and sonically oblique in design, Lifeguard circle electrical currents with a pull and push intensity. “S-E-N-S-A,” Slater spells out and sparks thought, before clashing all instrumentally in delightful noise not heard of since Abe Vigoda left listeners similarly vexed, and delighting anyone with an appreciation for a love song exploded.

Lifeguard’s Crowd Can Talk / Dressed In Trenches will be released July 7th on Matador Records.