Photo by Grace Bader Conrad

Over the course of two solidly promising EPs, Lifeguard have proven themselves as apt torchbearers in the true spirit of DIY indie rock. Their 2023 EP, Dressed In Trenches, was all about creating a scene from noisier amplitudes, but perhaps more interesting was last year’s single, “Ministry / Energie”, which heard bassist and vocalist Asher Case, guitarist and vocalist Kai Slater, and drummer Isaac Lowenstein linking up in the studio with No Age’s Randy Randall on a listen that was arguably even more in-the-red than anything we’ve heard from the young Chicago trio to date. It wasn’t a one and done, but rather a starting point: Lifeguard and Randall recorded their debut full-length, Ripped and Torn, together. “It Will Get Worse”, its lead single, actually means it can only get better for everyone in the listening room. Case and Slater (who in his own right has recently popped with his outlet Sharp Pins) trade barbs in harmony around some barbed melodic post-punk riffage as Lowenstein guns in percussion, all a complimentary nod to their Matador forefathers, Mission of Burma and many more just like them obscured in the garage. It’s like they’re running out of time trying to pack all of that combustible energy into a small room sound, but the walls are about to be blown out whether they like it or not.

Directed by: Eli Schmitt

Lifeguard’s Ripped and Torn will be released June 6th on Matador Records.