Free Throw

sugar-free presents:

FREE THROW

Lessons That We Swear To Keep, the fifth full-length record from Nashville emo-punk outfit Free Throw, opens with a five-second haze of violin-like feedback before it hits the ground at a sprint: a thick, overdriven guitar, drums, and bass all slam in together with tight bursts and a bright guitar lead dancing behind the wall of sound. “It’s so crazy that as you’re aging, somehow things become so complicated,” vocalist and guitarist Cory Castro groans to start the record’s first verse.

This opener, “A Part is Better Than Zero,” is electric with tension and desperation. Screamed backing vocals and harmonies layer atop Castro’s perfectly-strained roar, and guitars at the edge of fuzz-chaos flicker and rip across dizzying leads. Zach Hall’s drums are furious and precise. Both lyrically and sonically, the song is a sort of thesis statement for a thrilling, thunderous 38-minute LP that’s part-classic Free Throw, part-something new entirely.

In true Free Throw fashion, the record is marked with video game and TV references—Castro’s beloved Pokémon (“Cinnabar Island”), Outer Worlds (“Spacer’s Choice”), and Trailer Park Boys, for starters. But where previous releases centered on a cohesive theme, ready for dramaturgy and narration, Lessons That We Swear To Keep is about something even more immediate and formative, but less discussed: the grayness of everyday life.

SATURDAYS AT YOUR PLACE
Saturdays at Your Place is an alternative emo band from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Their sound consists of both heavy and twinkly guitar parts, group vocals and heart on sleeve lyrics.

EAT DEFEAT
Leeds punks Eat Defeat are for fans of anything fast, loud, melodic and fun.

7:30pm // £15 adv. // 18+