{"product_id":"oh-yeah","title":"Oh Yeah?","description":"\u003cp\u003eDespite (perhaps) being the band’s most accessible and melodic work to date, New York quartet Sunwatchers‘ fourth album arrives in a flurry of notes with the buzzing hum of “Sunwatchers vs. Tooth Decay”; the title referencing a 1976 album featuring athlete and activist Muhammad Ali. A cheeky nod to be sure, but laced with the utmost reverence. This attitude sums up Sunwatchers’ aesthetic in a nutshell; the acknowledgement (typically via the band’s irreverent song titles or album art) that the things in life we should take seriously are better faced and understood when disarmed by a wink or nudge. The band may cloak their fiery activism in a jester’s outfit, but it does nothing to dull the force of their attack. The one-two punch of \u003ci\u003eLove Paste\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBrown Ice\u003c\/i\u003e hits next, with the former’s tender opening melody punctuated by exuberant “WOO!”s while the latter launches into an urgent, stuttering march that utilizes an effective musical wind-up and release, ratcheting up a ferocious intensity across its near six minute runtime. \u003ci\u003eThee Worm Store\u003c\/i\u003e closes out the first side, beginning with a lumbering synth growl, until it picks up speed and ends as a frantic noisy free-for-all. Side two strides forth with \u003ci\u003eThe Conch\u003c\/i\u003e, an obvious \u003ci\u003eLord of The Flies\u003c\/i\u003e reference, and a delicious subversion of the idea of a “hero’s anthem” weighted down by the trappings of tribalism. The album’s showstopper however is \u003ci\u003eThe Earthsized Thumb\u003c\/i\u003e, the near twenty-minute closing track. Guitarist Jim McHugh lays down a hypnotic Saharan guitar melody as the rest of the band ushers themselves in one by one over the tune’s distinct musical movements, a “Quick One” for all the heads perhaps?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe album’s title \u003ci\u003eOh Yeah?\u003c\/i\u003e is at once an homage to Mingus, Thee Oh Sees’ album \u003ci\u003eHelp\u003c\/i\u003e (whose Brigid Dawson hand-sewed the tapestry adorning the album’s front cover) and (naturally) the rallying cry of KoolBrave himself - the Kool-Aid Man-as-Braveheart avatar the band adopted as their symbol. The three years since the band’s second album (and TiM debut) \u003ci\u003eII \u003c\/i\u003ewas released, has seen the band grace stages across the USA and Europe, enlisting more comrades in their mission of solidarity (sonically speaking) with every show.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Trouble In Mind","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50498702246219,"sku":"1086905","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50498702377291,"sku":"1086907","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/e0f13a38-ed6b-4f1b-a8a5-1b4bd05e1100_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727754420","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/products\/oh-yeah","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}