<p><span><span>- I think of Sweater Curse as a band with their eye on the prize. For all their unassuming lyrics about relationship angst and the mundanities of this modern life, for all their roaring, throwback, slacker guitar-rock, they’re not really consumed by the little picutre and they're not rocking because they don’t know any better. There’s something astute about this crew: they <em>want to be better</em>. That kind of aspiration is, sometimes, not looked on very kindly in the alternative world, but precisely because Sweater Curse bring together the shaggy-haired, flannel-shirted sounds and the smarts as well, they achieve an enviable poise, a balance, it’s almost zen in its measured yin and yang and it’s reflected in where they are musically. Their new EP fine-tunes everything about them: whatever push and pull they might be experiencing personally, life’s petty tribulations are consumed in the music’s sweet fire.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>I think there was more of the heritage of indie/alternative guitar rock on Sweater Curse’s 2019 EP, <em>See You.</em> The raw, DIY sounds of grunge were a sentimental stroll back through not just the Seattle sound, but Brisbane’s heritage of garage bands as well. Always shaking up their influences, that EP was itself a change-up from <strong>Interpol</strong>-esque post-punk in an early single like 2017’s <em>Don’t Call Me</em>. Sweater Curse are a band who digest well what they’ve learned from others: if you strain your ears a little today, you can still hear the post-punk in there - deadpan sung-spoken passages, driving guitar riffs under the reverb and fuzz. Their fondness for the everyday, conversational rocking of <strong>Jess Locke </strong>or <strong>Courtney Barnett</strong> is there too, perhaps best expressed in <strong>Monica Sottile</strong>’s unpretentious, evenly-paced lyrics. However their best-disguised steal it seems -well it must be because nobody talks about it- Sweater Curse finally get to properly express their <strong>Yuck</strong> fandom with the shoegaze thunder that rolls across <em>Push//Pull.</em></span></span></p>
<p><span><span>It’s an essential element here, serving as a counterweight to the EP’s undeniable pop acumen. The songwriting with <strong>Alex Lahey</strong>, the production by <strong>Ball Park Music</strong>’s <strong>Sam Cromack</strong>, the subtle skeleton of classic guitar pop wends its way through every song, but these sugary sounds are always circumscribed, made that little bit more of a grown-up pleasure, by a storm of guitar.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>All of it takes Sweater Curse to a pretty enviable place. All these recognisable sounds echo off each other, creating a happy cacophony that isn’t exactly like much else you can think of. <em>Push//Pull </em>is perfectly listenable, even as it affords you all the depth and complexity you need to come back and pick apart the long musical history tied up in its creation. Now that I think about it though -and not to take away from their achievement- I'm pretty sure a bunch of musicians have found themselves in this position before. What I mean is, with Monica and Chris wailing “<em>If I’m the only reason you can’t bear to leave / Why am I the only thing that makes you unhappy</em>”, it may be time to focus on the rest of life’s ****-ups, because they have this rocking thing sorted.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>- Chris Cobcroft.</span></span></p>
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3679105373/size=large/bgcol=f…; seamless><a href="https://sweatercurse.bandcamp.com/album/push-pull">Push//Pull by Sweater Curse</a></iframe>