Good Living Is Coming for You

Chronique

When Sweeping Promises' debut album Hunger for a Way Out arrived in the middle of 2020, it was one of the more pleasant surprises in a time filled with terrible ones. Though its release in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic was a coincidence, it spoke to the moment perfectly. Recorded in a few weeks in a converted laboratory with a single microphone, its grimy atmosphere, coupled with bassist/vocalist Lira Mondal's piercing voice and multi-instrumentalist Caufield Schnug's burbling keyboards, echoed the suffocating isolation of the pandemic's early days (as well as the work of the Units and Devo). Urgent yet distant, Hunger for a Way Out sounded like a fading transmission that Sweeping Promises desperately had to make, and listeners responded. As they gained fans, however, Schnug and Mondal lost their jobs and had to leave their home base of Boston, ultimately settling in a Lawrence, Kansas home with a serendipitously perfect space for recording. While their lives were in flux, Sweeping Promises maintained control over their music, and Good Living Is Coming for You is arguably even more focused than their debut. Mondal and Schnug's second album underscores that their lo-fi, mono recording techniques aren't just out of necessity -- they're a specific aesthetic choice that they use eloquently. Within these songs' crumbling walls of sound, there are abundant details to savor, like the way the synth arpeggios ricochet around the dive-bombing bass and guitar on "Can't Hide It"'s gentrification lament. Where Hunger for a Way Out felt like shoving back against a world closing in, Good Living feels like being trapped by the consequences of one's own actions. "Good Living Is Coming for You" makes the implied threat of being consumed by consumerism explicit with lunging, dubby, disco-punk; "Connoisseur of Salt" skewers the obsession with creature comforts with a pinch of X-Ray Spex-like saxophone for good measure; and "Eraser" embodies self-deprecation with towering keyboards and vocals ready to collapse at any moment. As on Hunger for a Way Out, Mondal's commanding voice is the glue that holds together Good Living Is Coming for You. Whether she snarls and wails over eerie synth strings on "You Shatter" or piles her harmonies to the skies on the excellent "Throw of the Dice," she proves the nervy mix of powerhouse female vocals and gritty arrangements can still be as potent as when Pylon, Blondie, and the B-52s pioneered it. The tighter, more melodic songwriting lets different sides of Sweeping Promises' sound emerge, and moments like "Shadow Me"'s '50s pop homage deliver existential dread with a charmingly wry sense of humor. Hunger for a Way Out was such a strikingly rough diamond that Good Living Is Coming for You couldn't have the same element of surprise, but the refinements Sweeping Promises have made only reinforce how consistent and distinctive their music is -- and how much more it has to offer.

© Heather Phares /TiVo